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Book _- 



IX, 



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CilEffilGHT DEPOSIT. 



College Achievement and 
Vocational Efficiency 

By 

Bessie Lee Gambrill, Ph.D. 

Head of the Department of Psychology, New Jersey State Normal School at Trenton 
Formerly Professor of Education, Alfred College 



TEACHERS COLLEGE, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY 
CONTRIBUTIONS TO EDUCATION. NO. 121 



Published by 

Tmrh:er!5|QIoll£gB, (Snlumhta 1Plntu:crsttg 

New York City 

1922 



Copyrighted, 1922, by Bessie Lee Gambrill 






,&" 






McQuiDDY Printing Company 
Nashville, Tenn. 



JUL ^^0 1922 



©CI.Ar>749B8 



ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 

THE writer of this monograph wishes to express her debt to the 
many individuals whose wilHngness to cooperate in this study 
alone made its accomplishment possible. These individuals include 
the presidents and registrars of the cooperating colleges through whose 
courtesy the scholastic records of the subjects were made available, 
the men and women of the class of 1903, in the cooperating colleges, 
who furnished the statements of income and other vocational data 
used in the study, Dean Emerson, emeritus, of Dartmouth, who made 
a rating of former students on present vocational success and the 
several members of the class of 1903 who furnished the ratings of class- 
mates used in Chapter IV. Professor David Snedden, of Teachers 
College, has given stimulating criticism in connection with some of the 
suggestions of Chapter VIII. 

To Professor George D. Strayer and Professor E. L. Thorndike, the 
writer is especially grateful for encouragement, guidance, and construct- 
ive criticism throughout the entire investigation. 

B. L. G. 



HI 



CONTENTS 

Introduction vii 

Chap. I. The Relationship Between College Rank and 

Success in Life. The Problem Defined . . 1 

Chap. II. Previous Studies of Success in College in 

Relation to Success in Life 4 

Chap. III. College Marks as Related to Income Twelve 

Years After Graduation 19 

Chap. IV. Bxtra-Curricular Activity in Relation to 

Income 42 

Chap. V. Influence of the College Course Upon the 

"^ Vocations of College Graduates .... 53 

Chap. VI. Other Factors Having a Possible Bearing Upon 

Success in College and Success in Vocation 72 

Chap. VII. Summary and Conclusions 78 

Chap. VIII. Some Problems of College Education Suggested 

BY This Study 87 

References 98 



^ 



INTRODUCTION 

The study presented in this monograph is an attempt to discover the 
relation between the vocational efficiency of college graduates as measur- 
ed by income twelve and a half years after graduation and undergraduate 
achievement as measured (1) by scholarship and (2) by extra-curricular 
activity and success. 

It was the writer's original purpose to include as a part of this inves- 
tigation a measurement of the relation of certain other factors to income : 
(1) time of choosing the vocation; (2) reasons for entering the first occu- 
pation after graduation; (3) change in occupation and reasons for 
change; (4) self-support while in college; (5) amount and kind ot pro- 
fessional study after graduation; (6) time of marriage and size of family. 
Because of insuperable obstacles inherent in the nature of the available, 
data this phase of the investigation had to be abandoned. 

The data gathered with reference to time of choosing the life career 
reasons for entering the initial occupation and reasons for change are 
presented in Chapter V in an attempt to measure the influence of the 
college upon the determination of the life careers of its graduates. The 
facts in regard to self-support, graduate study, and marriage have been 
summarized in Chapter VI mainly for the interest which attaches to the 
occupational variations which the statistics reveal. No attempt is made 
to measure the relation of these factors to vocational success. 

The initiation of the investigation was prompted by the hope of con- 
tributing in some small measure to the factual basis of the movement for 
the more effective educational and vocational guidance of college stu- 
dents. It is the writer's hope that the study may also serve to focus 
attention upon a number of other problems of college administration. 
These problems include (1) ways and means of increasing student re- 
spect for scholarship; (2) more effective methods of measuring the raw 
material which the college matriculates and the finished product which 
it graduates; (3) ways and means of utilizing more effectively the educa- 
tional posibilities of extra-curricular activities; (4) the urgency of a re- 
examination of the aims and function of the American liberal arts college. 



vu 



COLLEGE ACHIEVEMENT AND VOCATIONAL 

EFFICIENCY 

CHAPTER I 

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN COLLEGE RANK AND 
SUCCESS IN LIFE. THE PROBLEM DEFINED 

Aside from the sheer interest of the question, it is a matter of no 
sHght importance to know whether or not the attainment of high 
grades in college is prophetic of equally great achievement in life. If 
college is a preparation for life, the student who is most successful in 
measuring up to its standards should, in the long run, be the most 
successful in meeting the tests of life. This thesis has been generally 
accepted by college officials, who have been greatly interested in prov- 
ing that a positive and close relationship does exist between under- 
graduate standing and success after graduation. Indeed, the meas- 
urement of the relationship in question is the one scientific way of 
testing the results ot college education. 

The worth of the measurement will depend, of course, upon the 
validity of the measures applied and on the appropriateness of the 
method used. Care must be taken, also, in interpreting the results 
of such measurements and in drawing conclusions therefrom. For 
example, the establishing of a positive relationship will not prove, 
necessarily, as has sometimes been assumed, that the graduate's suc- 
cess was produced by the studies in which, as an undergraduate, he 
achieved distinction, and that the college curriculum has, therefore, 
been acquitted of the indictment of impracticality and aloofness from 
the real needs of life. Nor would it prove that distinguished alumni 
had achieved their success because of the hard study which won the 
high grades in college.^ To the writer it would seem safe to assume 
from a close, positive relationship between the facts in question, lit- 
tle more than this: that the methods of selection used by the college 
had succeeded in discovering and distinguishing those individuals 
who possessed the qualities which would finally operate to distinguish 
them among their fellows after graduation — that the criteria of college 
and those of life were identical. This identity, or lack of identity, of 
measures between college and life outside of college is in itself worthy 
of test, however. 

^ Note the impHcation in the title of Foster's article in Harper's Magazine, 
Sept. 1916, "Should Students Study?" 

I 



2 College Achievement and Vocational Eijiciency 

On the other hand, a failure to establish positive relationship between 
the factors in question would admit of several possible interpreta- 
tions. ^ 

In the first place it might indicate that the qualities essential to 
success in college, as now measured, were not the same as those es- 
sential to success in life. This conclusion, however, would not neces- 
sarily follow. It might easily be true that the lack of relationship was 
due to a failure on the part of the college to make the course of study 
appeal to the student as worthy of the effort, the result of which 
would really test his ability to succeed. In other words it might 
mean that the course of study was either unrelated to life in 
any vital way, or that it was so presented that this relationship was 
not clear to the student and hence, for him at least, did not exist. 
Until this latter possibility was disposed of, indeed, it would be unsafe 
to assume the correctness of the first interpretation mentioned above. 
Still another possible explanation of lack of relationship would have 
to be considered. It may easily be true that the abilities tested by 
success in the college curriculum are the same abilities required for 
success in some occupations and quite different from those required for 
success in other occupations. By massing the data for all occupations 
such relationship as exists may be obscured. In order to test this 
last interpretation, therefore, it would be necessary to analyze the 
result of our measurement if it were negative by testing separately 
the relationship in question for graduates in different occupations. 

Apart from its obvious value as a check upon the results of college 
education, a knowledge of what relationship actually exists between 
college achievement and life achievement could be utilized in a number 
of important ways. For example, if college authorities could prove 
to students that the high stand man has a very much better chance 
of success in life than has the low stand man — if they could prove this 
on the basis of facts rather than offer it as a professicmal faith — if the 
success achieved in life is of a kind to stir the ambition and emulation 
of undergraduates, knowledge of this relationship might be expected 
to increase student respect for high rank as a goal worthy of attain- 
ment and hence of effort. At present it is a well authenticated tact 
that undergraduates do not so regard high academic rank in spite of 
the fact that the college has marked it with the stamp of highest ap- 
proval. The desire for approval is a powerful incentive to human en- 
deavor, but it is the approval of one's peers that counts, and this is 

^ Granted always that the measure used is a valid one, and the method of 
its application is sound. 



Relationship Between College Rank and Success 3 

especially true in the case of the adolescent. Whether it be true or 
false, so long as the tradition holds that college life is the thing and 
that college studies do not count, high scholastic honors will be an in- 
centive of very limited appeal. In any case the attainment ot the 
mark itself is not, of course, the goal to stress. But if success in the 
college course is prophetic ot life success, then it is desirable that the 
honors attached to scholastic achievement be valued by the student as 
are the equivalent honors in life outside of college. If, however, there 
is no very close relationship between the factors in question, or if the 
relationship holds only for certain occupations or when certain meas- 
ures of success are applied, college authorities should be clear as to 
the facts when they attempt to use the "success motive" as an aid to 
winning student respect for scholarship. 

The men who employ college graduates, and those who are charged 
with the responsibility of recommending college graduates for positions 
need to know the extent to which a student's marks are prophetic of 
his later achievement. School superintendents, as well as business 
men, tend very strongly to discount marks as a basis oi selecting men 
and women for positions. Are they right or wrong? If they are 
right, the college needs to recognize this fact and to give grave 
thought to its significance. If they are wrong the college officers 
charged with the placement of graduates should in fairness to the high 
grade students try to convince the employing public of its error. This 
employing public can not be convinced by a reiteration of the beliefs 
of college officers. These men demand proofs, and if the evidence 
offered is to have weight with them the measures used for testing suc- 
cess must be measures which appeal to them as valid. 

A number of studies of the relation between success in college and 
success in life have been made. These studies will be reviewed in 
Chapter II, as a preliminary to the presentation in Chapters III and 
IV of the writer's investigation of this question by the application 
of somewhat different tests of success and the use of a different method 
of measurement. 



CHAPTER n 

PREVIOUS STUDIES OF SUCCESS IN COLLEGE IN 
RELATION TO SUCCESS IN LIFE 

Dexter 's study of "High Grade Men in College and Out"^ is "an 
attempt to follow the subsequent careers of high grade men in order to 
determine their valuation by the world at large . . . The high 
grade man in college has realized most nearly the ideals of his Alma 
Mater ... if he fails in life it means that judged by another criterion — 
that of society in the broadest sense — he is not a success: that the two 
criteria are different, based upon different ideals, and as a corollary, 
since life is the final test, that the college ideal is not a practical one and 
that the aim of higher academic education is false." 

The study includes the living graduates of twenty-two typical Ameri- 
can colleges which have had a chapter of Phi Beta Kappa for at least 
twenty years previous to 1900. In the first part of the study member- 
ship in this honorary Greek letter society, which includes from 8 per cent 
to 33 per cent of the highest scholars graduating in any year, was used 
as the criterion of success in college. Mention in Who's Who was the 
test of success in life. 

The first method of comparison used was to determine the percentage 
of Phi Beta Kappa men whose names were included in Who's Who, then 
the number of graduates regardless of rank who attained this distinc- 
tion. The result of the comparison in terms of percentages is given in 
Table I. 

The table shows lor each college and for the group as a whole the 
number of living Phi Beta Kappa graduates; the number of Phi Beta 
Kappa graduates in Who's Who; the percentage of Phi Beta Kappa's in 
Who's Who; the percentage of living graduates in Who's Who; the per- 
centage elected to Phi Beta Kappa each year (weighted in terms of the 
number of living graduates); the percentage of Who's Who men, grad- 
u ates of these colleges, who were elected to Phi Beta Kappa. 

In interpreting this table Dexter says, "In the two columns d and e, we 
have the basis of what seems to me an important comparison, the first 
representing the percentages of high grade men who were successful 

^Popular Science Monthly, 62:424. 



Previous Studies of Success 

TABLE I 

Comparison of Phi Beta Kappa Graduates and Rank and File Graduates 
OF Twenty-Two Colleges as to Who's Who Success 

[Dexter] 



Colleges 


Living 

P. B. K. 

Grads. 


P. B. K. 

Grads. 

in 

Who's 

Who 


%P.B.K. 
Grads. 

Who's 
Who 


% Liv- 
ing 

Grads. 

Who's 
Who 


% Elect- 
ed to 
P.B.K.i 


%Who's 

Who 
Elected 

to 
P. B. K. 


a 


b 


c 


d 


e 


/ 


g 


Amherst 

Bowdoin _ _ 


630 
358 
658 
184 
310 
212 
650 
366 
1110 
135 
140 
175 
135 
185 
190 
285 
225 
360 
375 
140 
435 
864 


29 

36 

22 

4 

21 

11 

38 

9 

139 

2 

3 

1 

3 

2 

6 

5 

12 
23 
21 
5 
33 
56 


4.6 
10.0 
3.3 
2.1 
6.7 
5.2 
5.8 
2.4 
12.5 
1.5 
2.1 
.6 
2.3 
1.1 
3.1 
1.7 
5.3 
6.4 
5.6 
3.6 
7.6 
6.5 


2.6 
2.2 
1.8 
1.7 

.8 
1.6 
2.4 
3.0 
2.7 
2.6 
3.6 
1.1 
3.3 

.8 

.4 
1.6 
4.1 
3.0 
3.4 

.4 
2.8 
2.3 


20 
25 
25 
25 
20 
12 
16 


40.3 
59.8 


Brown 

Colgate. - 


52.4 
57.0 


Columbia.-.- 

Cornell 

Dartmouth 


39.6 
30.0 
45.2 


Hamilton . . 


45.0 


Harvard 

Hobart 

Kenyon 


8 
25 


40.8 
40.0 
33.0 


Marietta 

Middlebury 

N. Y. City College___ 
N. Y. University. 


33 
33 
12 


33.0 
30.0 
10.0 
42.0 


Rutgers 

Trinity. _ ... . . 


25 
33 
25 
25 


83.0 
40.0 


Union. . . 


34.3 


Wesleyan 

Western Reserve .. 


47.7 
45.5 


Williams_. 


20 
12 


54.1 


Yale 


24.5 






Total 


8122 


481 


Av. 5.9 


Av. 2.1 


Av.15.7 


39.3 



^ Weighted in terms of number of living graduates (1432). 



in life according to our criterion, and the second the percentage of good, 

bad and indifferent college men who achieved success in terms of the 

same criterion. The averages at the bottom of these columns are very 

expressive — 5.9 per cent for the former to 2.1 for the latter. If we are 

to accept these figures our conclusion must be that the Phi Beta Kappa 

man's chances of success are nearly three times those of his classmates 

as a whole, ^ that the upper stratum of college life is the upper stratum 

^ Jastrow points out (Educational Review, 31:25, "Distribution of Distinction 
in American Colleges") that Dexter's figures as to total number of living alumni 
are grossly inaccurate. The figures were taken from the New York World's Al- 
manac. They were corrected by Jastrow from actual alumni lists of the colleges 
in question. Dexter finds that 2.8 times as many Phi Beta Kappa men as alumni 
in general are found in Who's Who. Jastrow's correction reduces the figure to 1.55. 



6 College Achievement and Vocational Efficiency 

still when put to the test, and to borrow still further irom the nomen- 
clature of the geologist, the cataclysm of graduation does not produce a 
subversion of strata." 

As a second measure of attainment in college Dexter secured the exact 
class standing of the graduates of two of the larger New England col- 
leges. Inclusion in Who's Who was again used as the measure of life 
success. These data not only make it possible to determine the per- 
centage of high grade men included in Who's Who, but also enable us to 
see the distribution of Who's Who distinction through the lower scholar - 
ship ranks of the class. The results are shown in Table II. 

TABLE II 
Comparison of the; Distribution of Who's Who Distinction Through 
Successive Scholarship Ranks of the Class 
[Dexter] 



Divisions of the Class 



First 10th of Class- _ 
Second 10th of Class. 
Third 10th of Class_. 
Fourth 10th of Class. 
Fifth 10th of Class- _ 
Last Half of Class. _ 
Rank and File 



Percentages in 


Who 


's Who 




5.4 




2.9 




2.5 




1.8 




1.8 




1.9 




2.2 



Again the results are impressive, the 1st 10th of the class having to its 
credit nearly two and one half times as many Who's Who men as the 
r ank and file of the group. The percentage of distinction decreases, too, 
as we pass downward through the deciles until we reach the fourth 10th. 
After that, however, there is no decrease. In fact, the lowest half oi the 
class furnishes a slightly larger percentage of Who's Who men than do the 
two deciles just above the middle point in scholarship for the class. 
Professor Dexter states that this irregularity with reference to the per- 
centage of Who's Who men in the lower half is even more pronounced 
for those who graduated practically at the foot of the class. He states 
that his figures for these men are not sufficiently accurate to form the 
basis of percentages for these tenths considered separately. Professor 
Dexter is at a loss for an adequate explanation of the situation here re- 
vealed. "I know of no way to account for this," he says, "unless it be 
that those students who were able to keep a foothold among their class- 
mates only with the greatest difficulty gave up all hope of success in 
t hose pursuits ordinarily chosen by college graduates, following others 
for which they were fitted by nature rather than by training, but in 



Previous Studies of Success 7 

which competition would be with a weaker class, while those who made 
a moderate success of college work continued in a losing competition 
with their classmates." It would be interesting and probably illumi- 
nating to know the occupational distribution of each tenth of the group. 
Unfortunately this distribution is not available. 

Foster, in a study of the "Relation Between College Studies and 
Success in Life," made in 1910, uses the class of 1894 of Harvard College 
for his subjects.^ He rejects membership in Who's Who as a measure 
of life success because it unduly weights certain occupations and because 
"there is a kind of life which does not express itself in offices or publica- 
cations or advertised philanthropy which, nevertheless, the best men of 
our colleges would be glad to promote, if possible, by the administration 
of the curriculum." For this measure he substitutes the judgment of 
three men: LeBaron R. Briggs, dean of Harvard College when these men 
were undergraduates, Edgar H. Wells, secretary of the Harvard Alumni 
Association, and Frederick B. Farrington, associate professor of educa- 
tional administration at Teachers College, and a member of the class in 
question. There was no attempt by the investigator either to define 
success or to specify methods or standards for measuring it. Presum- 
ably each judge made his own definition of success. He was simply 
asked to "choose those men who had achieved the kind of success which 
he would be glad to have Harvard College promote, if possible, by the 
administration of its curriculum. The only qualification was that men 
whose careers appeared to be greatly aided by social position or heredi- 
tary wealth should not be included in the successful group." Twenty- 
three men were marked successful by two of the three judges. The 
report does not offer any facts as to the deviations in the judgments of 
the three. 

The exact academic records of these twenty- three "successful" men 
were copied, and the number of A's, B's, C's, etc., was used as the meas- 
ure of scholastic success. As a check group twenty-three men were 
selected at random, the membership being constituted by taking 
every fifth name in alphabetical order from the lists of living members 
of the class of 1894. The exact academic records of these twenty- 
three men were also copied. The comparative results are given in 
Table IH. 

It will be seen that the "successful" group received about three and 
one-half times as many higher grades as the group chosen at random. 
Foster concludes that "contrary to the popular notion, success in col- 
lege as indicated by marks attained in college courses does give prom- 
ise of succ ess in later life." 

1 Foster: Administration of the College Curriculum, p. 212. 



College Achievement and Vocational Efficiency 

TABLE III 

Comparison of the Scholarship of 23 Successful Men and 23 Men Selected 
AT Random, Showing Relative Rank in All Courses of the Two Groups 

[Foster] 



Group A 
'Successful" Men 



Group B 
Random Selection 



A 


196 

180 

156 

33 

11 

8 


A 

B 

C 

D 

E 

Absent 

No Returns 


56 


B 


183 


C 


247 


D.. 


75 


E 


16 


Absent 

No Returns. 


8 
1 








Total 


584 


Total 


586 



Nicholson made a study of "Success in College and After Life"^ 
based upon the high grade men of Wesleyan University. 
The purpose of the study was to disprove the assertion so 
often made that the high scholar seldom achieves success in life. As 
to the definition of success he says, "For the purposes of this investi- 
gation, success is to be understood in the sense in which the world 
generally uses it, too often synonymous with income. For the purpose 
of^this study is to disprove the assertions that the high scholar seldom 
achieves success in life, and those who are fond of making such state- 
ments have always in mind the practical and not the ideal — the success 
ot position and income." As a measure of this success in life he select- 
ed J mention in Who's Who or such accomplishment as would justify 
such"" mention. Achievement of scholastic honor was the criterion 
ofjcollege success. The 16,067 graduates, li\4ng and dead, were ar- 
ranged in three groups. The first group comprised the oldest grad- 
uates, from 1833 to 1859, most of whom were no longer living. Since 
Who's Who is too recent a publication to include men from these class- 
es,^ Nicholson, assisted by certain of his colleagues, selected those 
whom he judged to be of Who's Who rank, making use of the data as 
to their careers found in the Alumni Record. A second group included 
the classes from 1860-1889. The measure of their achievement was 
actual mention in Who's Who. The third group consisted of the mem- 
bers of ten recent classes, those of 1890-1899. Since the youngest 

^ School and Society, Aug. 14, 1915. 
2 The first edition appeared in 1900. 



Previous Studies of Success 



of these classes had been out of college only fifteen years, the Who*s 
Who record was supplemented by the judgment of contemporaries, 
three men from each class being asked to pick out the most successful 
men in their respective classes. As to scholastic record, each of these 
groups was divided into three sections: (1) honor men (the valedicto- 
rians and salutatorians until 1873, then by a new system of honors, 
from 1 to 7 in a class; trom 1874 to 1906, the average was a little over 
three to a class); (2) Phi Beta Kappa men (the top third until 1893, 
after that the upper fourth of a class); (3) plain degree men. The 

TABLE IV 

Comparison of Various Degrees op Scholastic Honors With Who's Who 

Distinction 
[Nicholson] 



Group 1 : 643 Men 
Classes 1833-1859 


Per Cent Judged by Faculty 
to be of Who's Who Rank 


Honor Men 


53 
167 
476 


50 


P. B. K. 


31 


Plain Degree 


6 




Group II: 604 Men 
Classes 1860-1889 


Per Cent Found in 1914-15 
Edition of Who's Who 


Honor Men _ . 

P. B. K 

Plain Degree. _ 


59 
185 
419 


48 
31 
10 








Group III 

Classes 1890-1899 


Per Cent in Who's Who or Judged 
by Classmates as About to be 
There 


Honor Men 

P. B. K 

Plain Degree 


28 
109 
311 


50 
30 
11 




Total 1667 Alumni 


Per Cent of Who's Who Rank 


Honor Men _ _ _ 


140 

461 

1206 


50 


P. B. K 

Plain Degree 


31 

9 



10 



College Achievement and Vocational Efficiency 



comparison of these three degrees ot scholastic attainment with refer- 
ence to achievement of success in life as measured by Who's Who dis- 
tinction is presented in Table IV. The arrangement is essentially that 
used by Rolling wor th. ^ 

On the basis of these statistics he concludes that "we are justified 
in assuming, that, for this college at least, the chances of distinction 
for a high honor graduate, one of the two or three leading scholars of 
the class, are just even. That one out of three of those elected to 
Phi Beta Kappa is likely to achieve pronounced success in life; and that 
each of the remaining members in the class has less than one chance in 
ten of becoming famous." 

In the Harvard Graduate Magazine for March, 1916,^ Knapp reports 
an interesting study based upon the latest Harvard Quinquennial, in 
which is recorded the rank attained by certain high grade students 
His study covers the Harvard graduates from 1851-1900 who were liv- 
ing in 1915. He considers only high grade men, but compares the at- 
tainment of various degrees of success in college among this high grade 
group, with the chances of attaining success in life as measured by 
mention in Who's Who. His report may be summarized as follows: 

TABLE V 

Comparison of Different Degrees of Scholastic Distinction with 
Reference to Percentage Gaining Who's Who Mention 

[Knapp] 



Living Graduates 


No. Mentioned in 


1851-1900 


Who's Who 


30 


22 


308 


138 


221 


94 


865 


173 


1461 


251 


8683 


1305 



Per Cent 
Mentioned in 

Who's Who 



First Scholars 

First 10 Scholars- - 
Summa cum Laude 
Magna cum Laude 

Cum Laude 

Totals 



73.3 

42.5 

41.5 

20. 

17.2 

15. 



He concludes, "These figures indicate that rank in college seems to 
have a relation to success in later life, the percentage of success being 
in direct relation to such rank, and that the marking systems and ex- 
aminations really show something of the merits of the man and his 
chances in the future — a thing which we certainly doubted as undergrad- 
uates and concerning which some of us have been skeptical in later life." 
One other fact is noted by this investigator. Each successive decade of 

^ Vocational Psychology, p. 194. 

' "The Man Who Led His Class in College— and Others." 



Previous Studies of Success 11 

the half century shows a smaller percentage of men who have attained 
Who's Who success. This he thinks is due to the fact that the younger 
graduates have not yet worked out their salvation and fully demon- 
strated their worth. 

Kunkel's "Standing of Undergraduates and Alumni"^ is based 
upon a study of the classes of 1876-1905, inclusive, of Lafayette College. 
Judgment of classmates is used as the criterion of high standing of 
alumni. Scholarship rank within one's class when the class is divided 
into tenths or fifths, is the measure of undergraduate standing. Let- 
ters were sent to ten men from each class, asking them to select the 
five most successful men in their respective classes. Each judge was 
left to define success in his own way, the only limitation being that men 
who had inherited wealth or position and had done nothing with it 
should be excluded. Three hundred letters were sent out, and 171 
replies were received, but of this number only 123 gave the names of 
five successful classmates. A number showed hesitancy in making the 
selection because they were out of touch with their classmates, or felt 
themselves incapable of judging, while a few had scruples against a 
supposed injustice to many worthy men who had not become wealthy 
or conspicuous. Thirty names of non-graduates were sent, though the 
letters had asked for graduates only, and some of the men included had 
incomplete records. The final group of successful men studied includ- 
ed 301 names, one-fifth thus being rated as most successful out of a 
total of 1,593 alumni. In the tables following, the results of the com- 
parison between highest of undergraduates and alumni are summarized. 

The tables show that the first tenth or the first fifth of the class in 
scholastic rank is more likely to be judged successful than are the suc- 
cessive tenths or the fifths below the first, but that among the lower 
ranks the percentages judged successful fluctuate, with a decided ten- 
dency to increase in the lowest fifth of the class. 

In respect to this last tendency, Kunkel says, " The frequency with 
which successful men are found in the last fifth of the class — seems to 
afford some slight basis for the tradition . • . that the low-stand men 
in college rank high in life. I suspect, however, that this excess of 
men in the lowest fifth of the class is due to the more or less unconscious 
defenders of the low-stand men. At least one alumnus in reply to the 
letter stated in so many words that he had called successful one man 
who had done poorly in college because he had so far surpassed the 
promise of his college record." 

1 School and Society, May 12, 1917. 



12 



College Achievement and Vocational Efficiency 
TABLE VI 



Percentage of "Successful" Men in Successive Tenths of Class, Rank 

IN Class Being Reduced to Percentage Basis 

[Kunkel] 



Basis of Success 


No. 
of Men 


Tenths of Class 


Judgment 


1st 


2nd 


3rd 


4th 


5 th 


6th 


7 th 


8th 


9th 


10th 


One or More 

Classmates _____ 


301 
150 

89 


20.5 
26.0 
21.2 


11.2 
10.4 
11.2 


9.0 
12.0 
11.2 


11.2 

10.0 

9.9 


9.3 
8.0 
6.2 


10.2 
8.0 
9.0 


7.0 
5.3 
5.6 


7.3 
3.3 
3.4 


7.3 

7.3 

11.2 


7 


Two or More 
Classmates 


9 3 


All or All but One 
Classmate 


9.9 



TABLE VII 

Percentage of "Successful" Men in Successive Fifths of Class, Rank 

IN Class Being Reduced to Percentage Basis 

[Kunkel] 





No. 

of Men 


Fifths of Class 


Basis of Success 
Judgment 


1st 


2nd 


3rd 


4th 


5th 


One or More 

Classmates 

Two or More 

Classmates 

All or All but One 
Classmate 


301 

150 

89 


31.7 
36.4 
32.4 


20.2 
22.0 
21.1 


19.5 
16.0 
15.2 


14.3 
8.6 
9.0 


14 3 
16.6 
21.1 



As a further means of throwing light on this inconsistency in the 
results, Kunkel made an analysis of the "successful" group which to 
the mind of the present writer is very important. The group was first 
analyzed as to the occupation of its members, and then the scholastic 
distribution of each occupational group was determined. As to oc- 
cupation the group was distributed as follows: lawyers, 65; teachers, 
55; business men, 50; engineers, 42; ministers, 40; physicians, 29; 
iournalists, 11; scientific workers, 10. 

The scholarship distribution is given for teachers and business men 
only in Table VIII. 



Previous Studies of Success 



13 



TABLE VIII 

Percentage of Teachers and Business Men in Successive Fifths of the 

Class According to Scholarship 
[Kunkel] 



Group 


1st 


2nd 


3rd 


4th 


5th 


Teaching 


62 
16 


20 
18 


5.5 
22.0 


9.1 
22.0 


3.6 


Business __ 


22.0 







The distribution of successful teachers, he says, conforms most close- 
ly to expectations; that is, that the numbers of successful men will de- 
crease as one passes from the head to the foot of the class. The business 
group, on the other hand, "formed the only group in which there ap- 
peared to be an inverse ratio between class stand and alumni success 

. . . This group affords the only basis for the belief which has 
been mentioned." He expresses the belief that ''the large number of 
men at the foot of the class who go into business do so because they 
recognize that the learned professions are closed to them largely be- 
cause of their scholarship failure." This, he believes, is one explana- 
tion for the large percentage of low-stand men who prove successful 
in business. As a further explanation, he suggests that success in 
business depends somewhat upon geniality and affability, which he 
believes lead all too frequently to the undoing of a student's college 
career. 

He concludes that, "While a high stand does not carry with it any 
sound guarantee of success in after life, on the average, it is wise to 
attain that rank. Except in a business career, the poor students ap- 
parently have a generally smaller chance of success than the leaders 
in the classroom." 

"College Grades and Success in Life" ^ is the topic of a report by 
Louis Bevier based upon a study of 44 classes of Rutgers College 
graduated between 1862 and 1905, covering in all 1326 graduates. The 
test of success used is the judgment of four men, "who have the most 
intimate knowledge of the body of alumni and no detailed knowledge 
of their undergraduate scholarship standards." Each of these four 
men was asked to pick from the entire alumni body about 30 men, who 
had in their judgment achieved real eminence, and a second group of 
from 250 to 300 men, roughly one-fifth of the entire number, who had 

^ Educational Review, Nov. 1917. 



14 



College Achievement and Vocational Efficiency 



been highly successful. This gives two lists representing two degrees 
of success. Class rank is used as the measure of college success. The 
first comparison made is of the percentages of first honor, second hon- 
or, and third honor men found in the groups of eminence and of high 
success, respectively. The percentage is found by dividing the total 
number of men who form the group by the number from this group who 
found a place in the list. The letters A, B, C, D, in the tables below 
designate the lists of each of the four judges. ABCD^ refers to 
a composite list made up of all names mentioned by two or more of the 
judges. ABCD'^ is a composite list including all names mentioned 
in any list. Tables IX and X present the first comparison. 

TABLES IX AND X 

Comparison of Percentage of Honor Men Found in Groups of Eminent 

AND Successful Men Respectively 
[Bevier] 

Eminent Men 





A 

32 


B 

33 


C 

32 


D 

28 


ABCDi 

36 


ABCD2 

54 


First Honor 

Second Honor. _ 
Third Honor-__ 


20.5 
9.1 
4.5 


25.0 
9.1 

4.5 


18.2 
4.6 
6.8 


22.7 
6.8 
2.3 


25.0 

11.4 

4.3 


27.3 

13.6 

6.8 


Successful Men 




A 

306 


B 

286 


C 
266 


D 

303 


ABCDi 
316 


ABCD2 

480 


First Honor 

Second Honor.. 
Third Honor___ 


52.3 

47.7 
27.3 


52.3 
40.9 
18.2 


54.5 
40.9 
20.5 


52.3 
40.9 
27.3 


52.3 
47.7 
25.0 


65.9 
59.0 
40.9 



The percentages in these tables show that more than one-fifth of 
the men who graduated with first honors are found among the small 
number of men who are rated as eminent, and more than half among 
those who are rated as highly successful. The second honor men seem 
to stand only a little more than half as good a chance for attaining 
eminence as the first honor men. Their relative chances for "life 
success" are a little better, 48 per cent (approximately) of the second 
honor men attaining this rating as compared with 52 per cent of the 
first honor men so rated. The third honor men seem to have a still 
smaller chance for either eminence or high success. 



Previous Studies of Success 



15 



Several other tables are presented. The next pair show the percent- 
age of eminent men and the percentage of successful men in the first 
sixth, fifth, fourth and third of the class ranked according to scholarship. 
Giving the comparison for the composite group ABCD^ only, the 

results are : 

TABLE XI 

Percentage of Eminent Men and Successful Men (ABCD ^ Group only) 

IN First Sixth, Fifth, Fourth and Third of Class Ranked 

According to Scholarship 

[Bevier] 





Eminent Men 


Successful Men 


First 6th 


7.7 
6.8 
6.0 
5.4 


35.3 


First 5th 


35.4 


First 4th _ ___ _ -_- _ -_ 


34.3 


First 3rd 


32.1 



This indicates that at the top of the class in scholarship, the smaller 
the division considered, the larger the percentage of eminent men it 
contains. The same tendency holds for the "successful" group, but 
the size of the increase with the narrowing of the section is much smaller 
in amount. 

The next comparison considers the relative number of eminent and 
successful men found in each fourth or third of the class as a whole. 
In the table that follows, this distribution is shown for the 4ths of 
the class, using again only the percentages for the composite group 
A BCD'. 

TABLE XII 

Percentage of Eminent and Successful Men Found in Each Fourth and 

Third of Class as a Whole 
[Bevier] 





Eminent Men 


Successful Men 


First 4th___ _____ _ 


6.0 
3.0 
1.5 
0.3 


34.3 


Second 4th_ _____ 


24.7 


Third 4th 


'20.5 


Fourth 4th_ 


15.4 







Again the figures are consistent, the percentages regularly decreas- 
ing from the first to the fourth quarter of the class, the decrease being 
more rapid in the small lists of eminent men and less marked in the 
larger lists of highly successful men. 

These comparisons seem to justify Bevier 's conclusion that "under- 
graduate scholarship has a very important relation to future successi 



16 



College Achievement and Vocational Efficiency 



not necessarily in regard to an individual, but unmistakably when the 
whole membership of classes is considered." 

While the investigation reported in this monograph is concerned 
with the relation between the undergraduate academic success of 
the baccalaureate graduate and his later vocational achievement, it 
seems worth while as a matter of interest to review briefly the available 
studies of the relation between scholastic success in the professional 
school and later professional success. 

Dr. D. E. Rice, of Pratt Institute, made a comparison between the 
marks achieved in courses in Mechanical Engineering and Electrical 
Engineering and the salaries the men were receiving four to six years 
after graduation.^ The men were ranked (1) on the basis of marks re- 
ceived in the eight subjects studied and (2) on the basis of the salaries 
they were receiving at the time the investigation was made. Correla- 
tions were made for each class separately in order to make the salaries 
comparable. The following table shows the coefficients or correlation 
calculated by two methods. 

TABLE XIII 

Showing the; Correlation Between School Standing and Salaries 

Earned in Later Life 
[Rice] 



Class and Year 


Cases 


Correlation by 
Pearson Method 


Correlation by Per Cent 
of Unlike Signed Pairs 




r 


P. E. 


r 


P. E. 


Mechanical '07 

Mechanical '08 

Mechanical '09 

Electrical '07 

Electrical '08 

Electrical '09 


35 
41 
39 
26 
36 
41 


.36 
.25 
.21 
.16 
.46 
.16 


.08 
.09 
.09 
.13 
.08 
.10 


.22 
.34 
.06 
.25 
.51 
.28 


.09 
.08 
.10 
.12 
.08 
.09 


Averages 


.267 


.277 



The coefficients here presented are all positive but small in size 
denoting a general but not marked tendency toward agreement be- 
tween the degree of success achieved in the technical school course, 
and the relative financial rewards in salary four to six years after grad- 
uation. 



^ Reported by Hollingworth, Vocational Psychology, pp. 195-99. It should be 
noted that these courses are not really engineering courses. They offer, according 
to Rice {Scientific American, Aug. 9, 1913), technical and practical training in- 
tended to prepare young men for positions of responsibility above the grade of 
skilled mechanic in mechanical, electrical and chemical manufacturing and 
industrial plants. 



Previous Sttidies of Success 



17 



Dr. George B. Payne/ president of Harris Teachers College, St. 
Louis, made a study of the relation between the scholastic records in 
professional subjects of graduates of the college and ratings given them 
by principals in the public schools. The teachers were rated for man- 
agement of children, instruction and attention to details. Markings 
were given on the service as temporary substitutes, permanent sub- 
stitutes, and appointed teachers. Table XIV shows for appointed 
teachers the percentage of excellent, good, medium and unsatisfactory 
ratings given for each third of the class from highest to lowest. Half 
of the group had taught one term and the other half two terms. 

TABLE XIV 

Percentage op Grades Given by Principals to Graduates of Harris 
Teachers CoIvLEge in Their First Year of Teaching 

[Payne] 





Management 


Instruction 


Attention to Details 




B 


G 


M 


U 


E 


G 


M 


U 


E 


G 


M 


U 


Highest Third _- 
Middle Third. _. 
Lowest Third 


39.1 
40.5 
39.5 


46.7 
58.1 
57.9 


12.0 
1.4 
2.6 


2.2 
0.0 
0.0 


39.9 
27.0 
17.1 


50.2 
71.6 
80.3 


9.5 
1.4 
2.6 


.4 
.0 
.0 


69.8 
79.9 
78.6 


28.2 
17.6 
20.0 


2.0 
3.5 
1.4 


.0 
.0 
.0 



E — Excellent G — Good M — Medium U — Unsatisfactory 



Payne concludes that there is a decided relationship between success 
in the professional school and success in teaching. He notes, however, 
the more marked relation between success in instruction and scholarship 
than between the latter and either the management of children or atten- 
tion to details. He explains this as due in part to the fact that there is 
no instruction given by the college in those subjects and in part to the 
fact that the young teacher faced with numerous unfamiliar situations, 
naturally stresses the thing she can do best, and that is instruction. 

Professor Raymond Walters, of Lehigh University, reports a recent 
study of the scholastic standing upon graduation of 392 eminent engi- 
neers. ^ The study was made through the cooperation of the registrars 
of seventy-five colleges, technical schools and universities. The bases 
of eminence rating were (a) holding of office or (6) membership in stand- 
ing committees or (c) service as representative of the four "founder" 
engineer societies during, the years 1915-1919. The societies were. The 
American Society of Civil Engineers, The American Society of Mechani- 

^ "Scholarship and Success in Teaching," Journal of Educational Psychology, 
April, 1918. 

2 "The Scholastic Training of Eminent American Engineers," School and 
Society, March 12, 1921. 



18 College Achievement and Vocational Efficiency 

cal Engineers, The American Institute of Electrical Engineers, and The 
American Institute of Mining and Metallurgical Engineers. The bases 
used tend to emphasize scientific and ethical aspects, as the officials and 
representatives are chosen for outstanding worth. 

By comparing the percentages of these eminent engineers in fifths of 
their respective classes upon graduation, it was shown that (1) nearly 
one-half of them were in the highest fifth of their class; (2) nearly three- 
fourths were in the highest two-fifths of their college classes; only one 
out of twenty-five was in the lowest fifth of his class scholastically. 



CHAPTER III 

COLLBGB MARKS AS RELATED TO INCOME TWELVE 
YEARS AFTER GRADUATION 

The investigation reported in this chapter uses as a test of vocational 
success, income twelve years after graduation. As a test of academic 
achievement it uses the complete academic record of each individual 
included in the study. It is based upon a single class, 1903, men and 
women, academic graduates of eleven colleges. The method used is 
that statistically known as correlation. The data were gathered in the 
fall and winter of 1915-16, before the World War had begun to influence 
to any appreciable degree the vocational status of the men and women 
who are the subjects. 

The subjects are the baccalaureate graduates of the class of 1903 in 
Bowdoin College, Brown University (men only), Dartmouth College, 
Johns Hopkins University, Barnard College, Goucher College, Mt. Hol- 
yoke College, Smith College, Oberlin College and the undergraduate 
schools of the University of Illinois and the University of Missouri. It 
will be noted that the list of colleges includes four men's colleges, four 
women's colleges, one privately endowed co-educational college and the 
undergraduate schools of two middlewestern universities. 

The chief considerations influencing the selection of the institutions, 
beyond the requirement that they be of unquestioned standing as col- 
leges, were willingness of the college authorities to cooperate in the study 
and the nature of the data contained in alumni bulletins. 

A single class throughout the eleven colleges was made the basis of 
study in order to furnish a group which had been out of college for the 
same length of time and had been subjected to the same general econom- 
ic conditions. The class of 1903 was chosen as furnishifig a group whose 
members had been out of college long enough to find themselves voca- 
tionally, yet not long enough to render the conclusions drawn from 
their experience wholly inapplicable to the present college generation. 
The living members of this class furnished a total of 1153 names, 563 
men and 590 women. 

The chief data used and their sources were: (1) Occupational records 
found in alumni catalogs; (2) present incomes obtained by questionnaire 
from members of the class of 1903 in the eleven cooperating colleges; 
(3) judgments of classmates as to life success of their fellows;^ (4) 

1 Used in Chapter IV. 

19 



20 



College Achievement and Vocational Efficiency 



complete academic records for this class transcribed from the college 
records under the supervision of the registrars. 

This investigation is concerned with baccalaureate graduates only. 
In certain colleges, however, there was no distinction made in the alumni 
lists between the straight baccalaureate graduate, the semi-professional 
graduate (B. S. in engineering, agriculture, architecture, chemistry, etc.) 
and the professional graduate (L. L. B. or B. L. S.). So it came about 
that the responses to the questionnaire and the scholarship records includ- 
ed a number of these professional and semi-professional graduates. The 
records of these individuals have been kept separate from those of the 
baccalaureates and were not used in the measurements to be reported. 



OCCUPATIONAL AND INCOME STATISTICS 

Table XV presents the occupational distribution of the men of the 
class of 1903 in the cooperating colleges, and shows the percentage of 
each occupational group who sent replies to the questionnaire. These 
percentages of replies serve as some index of the interest of the group as 
a whole and of the differences in interest among the various occupational 

TABLE XV 

Occupational Distribution, Class of 1903 (Men), Showing Percentages 

OP Each Occupation Answering the Questionnaire 



Per- 
centage 
Reply- 
ing 



Bac. 
Grad. 


Prof. 
Grad. 


Semi- 
Prof. 
Grad. 


Total 


Bac. 
Reply- 
ing 


Prof. 
Reply- 
ing 


Semi- 
Prof. 
Reply- 
ing 


Total 
Reply- 
ing 



Business 

Teaching 

Law 

Medicine 

Engineering 

Ministry- 

Other Occupations. 
Unknown 



149 
83 
66 
54 
39 
21 
44 
11 


8 
"20" 


9 
2 


166 

85 
86 
54 
81 
21 
58 
12 


63 
65 

41 
32 
21 
13 
22 


8 


6 


77 
65 
47 
32 
53 
13 
27 


6 






42 




32 




14 

1 




5 



46. 

76. 

54. 

59, 

65, 

61.9 

46.5 



Totals I 467 1 28 | 68 | 563 | 257 



14 



43 I 314 I 55.8 



groups in the question of relationship between college activities and 
vocational achievement. They represent rather less than the real per- 
centage of interest, however, as the base used in calculating the percent- 
ages is the total number of individuals in each group, which includes 
those who were not reached by the questionnaire either because they 
were abroad or because their correct addresses were not available. 

The group yields 467 baccalaureate graduates, 28 graduates with 
professional degrees (27 L.L.B. and 1 B.L.S.); and 68 with semi- 
professional degrees (B.S. in M.E., E.E., C.E., Ag., Ch., Arch.). The 



College Marks as Related to Income 21 

occupational distribution of the baccalaureate group shows that 149 of 
the 467 men or 31.9 per cent are in business, 83 or 17.8 per cent are 
teachers; 66 or 14.1 per cent are lawyers; 54 or 11. 6 per cent are physi- 
cians; 39 or 8.4 per cent are engineers; 21 or 4.5 per cent are ministers; 
44 or 9.4 per cent in other occupations (journalism, forestry, chemistry, 
farming, social work, dentistry, public service, architecture, pharmacy, 
scientific work, library, music, dramatic reading, in the order listed, one 
to eight in a given occupation). The occupations of 1 1 men, 2.3 per cent 
of the group, are unknown. 

With reference to replies to the questionnaire, the table shows that 
nearly 56 per cent of the group as a whole (55 per cent of the baccalaure- 
ate group) indicated their interest by responding with a part or all of the 
information requested. The highest percentage of replies, 76.5 per cent, 
came from the teachers. Replies from the other occupational groups 
came in the following order: engineers 65.4 per cent; ministers 61.9 per 
cent; doctors 59.3 per cent; lawyers 54.7 per cent; business men 46.4 per 
cent. Of the unclassified group, 46.5 per cent replied. The outstand- 
ing fact here is the very high percentage of replies from teachers, the 
high percentage for professional groups in general as compared with the 
considerably lower percentage of replies from the business group. Apart 
from their possible use as an index of interest in this investigation, these 
percentages offer one basis for estimating the reliability of the results 
of this study. 

Table XVI gives the occupational distribution of the women of the 
class of 1903 in the cooperating colleges. 

There are 556 living baccalaurate graduates, 34 professional graduates 
(32 B.L.S. and 2 LX.B.) — 590 in all. Of the baccalaurate group, 285 
or 51.2 per cent are married; 213 or 38.3 per cent are engaged in paid 
occupations; 53 or 9.5 per cent have no recorded occupation. A number 
of the group with no present occupation have been employed at different 
times since graduation for periods of varying lengths. Undoubtedly 
some members of this group would, if specifically asked, report them- 
selves with some volunteer or unpaid occupation, either "helping at 
home" or social work, as did three of those to whom question blanks 
were sent by mistake. 



22 



College Achievement and Vocational Efficiency 



TABLE XVI 
Occupation Ai. Distribution, Class op 1903 (Women) 



Occupation 


Baccalaureate 


Professional 


Totals 


Paid Occupations 
Teaching- _ 


144 

19 

21 

10 

1 

2 

1 

3 

5 

1 

1 

1 

3 

1 




144 


Business . _ 




19 


Soc. and Relig. 




21 


Librarian 

Law. __ _ _ _ _ 


21 


31 
1 


Medicine. _ .... 




2 


Osteopathy . _ 




1 


Nursing ._ 




3 


Journalism 




5 


Craft Jewelry. . 




1 


Science 




1 


Farming. _ _ ._ 




1 


Paid Homekeeping 




3 


Interior Decorating. 




1 


Totals 


213 


21 


234 



Unpaid Occupations 

Marriage . 

Volunteer Social Ser- 
vice and Unpaid 

Homekeeping 

Students 



285 
3 
2 




296 
3 
2 



Totals 


290 


11 


301 


No Recorded 
Occupations 


53 


2 


55 


Total Women 

Graduates 


556 


34 


590 



Of the 213 baccalaureate graduates engaged in paid occupations, 144 
or 67.6 per cent are teachers, 21 or 9.8 per cent are in social and reli- 
gious work; 19 or 8.9 per cent are in business (mostly secretaries or 
stenographers); and 10 or 4.7 per cent are librarians. The number in 
each of the other recorded occupations is too small for separate treat- 
ment. Of the 34 women who took professional degrees (32 B.L.S. and 
2 L.L.B.) 11 or approximately 30 per cent are married; and 21 or ap- 
proximately 60 per cent are librarians. Replies were received from 136 
or 47.7 per cent of the married baccalaureate graduates, and from 150 or 
70.4 per cent of the 213 engaged in paid occupations. 



College Marks as Related to Income 



23 



TABLE XVII 

Income Distribution of Larger Occupational Groups \2\ Years After 

Graduation 









Men 






Women 


Income 


Teach- 
ing 


Business 


Law 


Medi- 
cine 


Engi- 
neering 


Minis- 
try 


Teach- 
ing 


Business 


$500- 750 _ . _ . 














7 
11 

t28 
17 

tl2 
7 
6 
1 
2 
2 
1 


t3 
2 


760- 889 - 














900-1150 _ 


1 

3 
3 
tl2 
8 
9 
10 

V 

3 
1 
3 


3 
3 
2 
2 
4 
t3 


_...-. 


2 

1 
1 


2 

1 

t6 

1 
t4 

1 


t3 

t2 


3 


1160-1350- 


t2 
1 


1360-1550 - _ - - 


1560-1750 __- - -- 




1760-1950 - - 


2 

t4 


1 
2 

11 
2 

1 
1 
4 

2 
1 

1 




1960-2150.. _- 




2160-2350 _ 




2360-2550 _ 


7 
5 
1 
8 
2 
1 
3 
1 
2 


1 
...... 

3 
2 
3 

"\ 
3 

tl 
2 




2560-2750 _. 




2760-2950 .- 




2960-3150.. . 






1 




3160-3350 - 








3360-3550 


2 

1 


2 

1 








3560-3750 








3760-3950 . __ 


1 




1 


3960-4150 










4160-4350 . 














4360-4550 




1 

1 

t2 
2 


1 


1 








4560-4750 










4760-4950 


1 














4960-5150 


1 


t2 










5160-5350 












5360-5550 








1 










5560-5750 
















5760-5950 




1 














5960-6150 . . . 




2 


5 










6160-6350 




2 










6360-6550 _ . . 
















6560-6750. _ _ . 


















6760-6950 


















6960-7150 






1 












7160-7350 
















7360-7550 




1 
1 

1 














7560-7750 
















7760-7950 
















7960-9900 
















10,000-11,000-- __- 


1 


2 
2 
1 


1 


1 










11,000-12,000 . . 










12,000-13,000 




1 












13,000-14,000 .__._._ 














14,000-15,000 




1 














15,000-16,000 
















16,000-17,000 




1 
1 














17,000-18,000 
































Total Frequencies 

Median Income 


65 

$2000 


67 

$3000 


34 
$3275 


30 
$3050 


20 
$2150 


13 

$1932 


95 

$1200 


12 

$950 



flndicatee the limits of the middle 50 per cent for each occupation. 



24 College Achievement and Vocational Efficiency 

The same form of occupational questionnaire was sent to the unmarried 
women engaged in paid occupations as was sent to the men. Since 
income is used in this study as a measure of vocational attainment 
this group is the only one whose records furnish data for inclusion in the 
particular measurement to be reported in this chapter. A different 
questionnaire was sent, however, to the married group in the hope of 
obtaining data which might contribute toward the development of 
some measure of success in what is commonly designated as "home mak- 
ing. ' ' ^ Statistics of replies to this questionnaire are included in the sum- 
mary of replies given below. Questionnaires were not sent to those 
women listed in the alumni catalogues as having no occupation. In a 
few cases because of errors in the alumni lists question blanks reached 
w^omen who were neither married nor engaged in paid occupations. 
Replies were received from 136 or 47.7 per cent of the married bac- 
calaureate graduates and from 150 or 70.4 per cent of the 213 women 
engaged in paid occupations. 

The income distributions for each of the larger vocational groups, 
men and women, are presented in Table XVII. These figures were ob- 
tained from the questionnaire blanks of baccalaureate graduates in 
response to the question: 

"For the past year what was your income from all 
sources (exclusive of inheritance and income from 
inheritance) ?" 

MKTHOD OF MKASURKMBNT USED 

The method used in the measurement of the relation between under- 
graduate marks and income twelve years after graduation is the method 
statistically known as correlation. This method is based upon the as- 
sumption that the most probable measure of relationship between two 
factors takes account as fully as possible of the varying amounts of each 
factor considered. It differs markedly from what Thorndike calls the 
"all or none" method which disregards the amounts or degrees of the 
factors to be measured. The all or none treatment would either include 
or exclude a man from the group "successful men" or "high scholarship 
men." It is illustrated in most of the studies reported in Chapter II. 

But success, however defined, is a relative matter and exists in vary- 
ing amounts. The method of correlation arrives at its results by a 
comparison of each amount of the first factor with the amount of the 

^ The attempt to devise such a measure was abandoned so far as this par- 
ticular investigation is concerned. The data collected concerning the activities 
of the married women will probably be used in a later study dealing with that 
group specifically. 



College Marks as Related to Income 25 

second factor which accompanies it. That is, in the case of our problem, 
each of the varying amounts of undergraduate scholastic attainment 
achieved by the members of the group studied is compared with the 
amount of income of the same individual in later life. These paired 
values for each individual, namely, rank or grade in scholarship and rank 
or number of dollars income, constitute the two series from which the 
coefficient of correlation is calculated. This coefficient of correlation is 
a measure of the probable closeness of relationship between scholarship 
and income. 

A perfect positive correlation, denoted by r=l, would indicate that 
for the group studied, at least, it would have been possible to predict 
accurately a man's future position as to income among his fellow gradu- 
ates on the basis of his undergraduate scholastic record. The size of 
the r, that is, its approximation to the perfect correspondence indicated 
by 1.00, is the measure of the closeness of relationship between the fac- 
tors in question. For example, r — .99 would be practically perfect 
correlation. 

If a coefficient of — 1.00 were found, this would indicate a perfect 
inverse relationship between scholarship and income. Future earnings 
could still be safely predicted from marks, but we should then find the 
man who stood at the bottom of the class enjoying the largest income 
and the man who led his class receiving the smallest monetary reward. 
This would more than substantiate the student tradition that the high 
scholarship man is likely to be outstripped by the poor student in the 
years after graduation. The size of the r, then, denotes the closeness 
of the probable relationship, while the sign plus or minus, shows whether 
the relationship is positive, that is, such that increments of the one may 
be expected to be found with increments of the other, or negative, that 
is, larger amounts of the one may be expected to occur with correspond- 
ingly smaller amounts of the other. 

It must be remembered that a coefficient of correlation represents 
simply the most probable measure of relationship between two factors 
in the group studied. The extent to which inferences drawn from cor- 
relations obtained from one group may safely be applied to other simi- 
lar groups will depend upon the degree to which the group measured is 
a random sampling of the larger whole of which each group is a part. 
The group measured must also include enough cases to be truly represen- 
tative of the larger group from which it was drawn. That is, a co- 
efficient of correlation between scholarship and income, to be of value 
for prognosis of the vocational success of college men and women, should 
be the result of measuring a random selection of college graduates of 



26 College Achievement and Vocational Efficiency 

sufficient number to be representative of college graduates in general. 
The correlations reported in this chapter, in so far as their reliability is 
established, measure the probability that scholarship in college is pro- 
phetic of success in vocation, success being measured by income tv^elve 
and one-half years after graduation. The exact meaning of different 
series of correlations is defined in each case, in terms of the data which 
were available and the method used in calculating the coefficients. 

The writer believes that the men and women included in the class of 
1903 in the eleven cooperating colleges are a fairly representative body 
of college graduates. Ideally the group should have been selected to 
include every type of college, and every section of the country. The 
ideal in these particulars was sacrificed to the availability of the re- 
quired data and the limitations of time and money. The numbers 
included in the basal group, something over eleven hundred men and wo- 
men, seemed large enough for valid conclusions. Unfortunately, the size 
of this group was reduced in various ways so that the actual correlations 
were based on numbers much smaller than they should be for precise 
arguments, involving small differences. It is hoped that at least they 
are large enough to suggest a trend which may be verified or corrected 
by further studies using the same methods of measurement. 

FACTORS DETERMINING NUMBER OP CASES FOR CORRElyATlON 

A number of conditions operated to reduce the original group of 1153 
college graduates, and to break it up into smaller groups, thus reducing 
the reliability of the coefficients of correlation finally calculated. In 
the first place something over 100 individuals were not reached by the 
questionnaire, because of defective or missing addresses or because of 
foreign residence. In the second place, something over one hall of the 
women were married and since the majority of these had no paid occupa- 
pation obviously the income measure of success was inapplicable to 
them. In the third place, because of the failure of the alumni lists to 
distinguish the baccalaureate graduates from those whose courses were 
more definitely specialized as indicated by aB.S. in Agriculture, Chem- 
istry or Engineering, or distinctly professional as implied by a degree 
of LX.B. or B.L.S., 130 men and women to whom letters were sent 
fell outside of the specific inquiry with which this monograph is concern- 
ed. A fourth factor in reducing the number of cases for correlation 
was failure to respond to the questionnaire. Income, one of the two 
measures for correlation, was available only for the men and women 
who were willing to furnish this item. 

The final cause which operated to produce correlations based on a 



College Marks as Related to Income 27 

much smaller number of cases than was expected from the size of the 
original group, was the necessity of dividing the baccalaureate graduates 
who furnished complete data for correlation into groups, first on the 
basis of vocation, and second, on the basis of sex. Inspection of the 
tabulation of income distributions for different occupations given in 
Table XVII, page 23, will reveal at once the invalidity of any measure- 
ment of the relation between scholarship and income which fails to 
differentiate the vocations in which the incomes were earned. The use 
of income as a measure of vocational success can only be justified on the 
assumption that in the long run the best teachers, the best lawyers, the 
best ministers, receive the highest remuneration, as compared with their 
fellows in the same occupations. Were we to disregard vocational lines 
we should have to conclude on the basis of the income distribution of 
Table XVII that the most successful college graduates were lawyers 
and business men. This conclusion would rest on the assumption that 
income constitutes success. The writer makes no such assumption. 
Rather, income is used as an objective, albeit an imperfect index of the 
public's recognition of the individual's relative worth within his voca- 
tion. 

A further reason for measuring the relationship in question separately 
for each vocation, revealed itself in the course of this study. By tabulat- 
ing the scholastic ranks of the individuals in the larger vocational groups 
it was found that the distribution of these ranks differed markedly 
among the various vocations. Table XVIII shows this distribute" on 
for men. The individuals in a given college class were ranked among 
their classmates on a scale from 1 to 32. Column X shows the fre- 
quency with which each rank was attained by individuals in each of the 
larger vocational groups. The median ranks are given at the bottom of 
the table for comparison. The high median rank for teachers, 8.5, and 
for engineers, 11, and the low median rank for business, 21, are striking 
features of this comparison. The variations in distribution among oc- 
cupations for women are of doubtful significance because of the small 
number of cases represented in occupations other than teaching. The 
tabulation for women is therefore omitted. 



28 



College Achievement and Vocational Efficiency 



TABLE XVIII 
Distribution of Scholastic Ranks by Occupations 

X — Distribution of all baccalaureate graduates in a given occupation. 
Y — Distribution of those whose incomes were available for correlation. 
Z — Distribution of those whose incomes were not available for correlation. 











Frequencies for Different Occupations 


(Men) 






Scholarsnip 
Rank 


Teach 


ing 


Business 


Law 


Medicine 


Eng 


neering 


M 


nistry 




X 


Y 


Z 


X Y Z 


X Y Z 


X Y Z 


X 


Y Z 


X 


Y Z 


I 


2 
3 
4 
6 
4 
4 
3 
2 
3 
2 
2 
1 
1 
1 
1 

3 

1 

3 

2 

3 
1 
2 
2 


1 

3 
3 
5 
4 
3 
3 
2 
3 
2 
2 
1 
1 
1 
1 

2 

1 
1 

2 

2 

2 
1 


1 

1 
1 

1 

1 

2 

1 
1 

1 


1 1 - 

1 1 - 

3-3 

2 1 1 
6 6- 

4 2 2 

3 2 1 

2 1 1 
6-6 
3-3 
6 3 3 

3 1 2 
3 2 1 
3-3 

3 2 1 

4 3 1 
3 2 1 

5 1 4 

6 2 4 
3 1 2 

1 - 1 

2 2 - 
6 3 3 
6 2 4 

6 5 1 

7 2 5 
4-4 
5 2 3 
5 1 4 


1 - 1 

3 3- 

3 2 1 

1 1 - 

2 1 1 
2-2 
2 1 1 

4 3 1 

1 1 - 

2 1 1 

1 1 - 

2 1 1 

2 2- 

3 2 1 

4 2 2 

2 2- 
1 - 1 

3-3 

4 3 1 

3 1 2 

3 3- 
1 - 1 
1 - 1 


1 1 - 

1 1 - 
1 1 - 

1 1 - 
3 3- 
1 - 1 
3 3- 

1 1 - 

2 1 1 
2-2 

1 1 - 

3 1 2 
3-3 

2 2- 

3 2 1 
3 2 1 
1 1 - 

1 - 1 

3 2 1 

2 1 1 
1 - 1 
1 - 1 

3 2 1 


1 
1 
2 
2 

1 

1 
1 
4 
1 

2 
1 
1 

2 

1 
1 

1 


1 - 

1 - 

2 - 
1 1 

- 1 

- 1 
1 - 

3 1 

- 1 

- 2 

- 1 

1 - 

2 - 

- 1 
1 - 

1 - 


1 
1 

1 

2 

2 
1 

1 




2 


_ — 


3 


— .. 


4 




5 




6 




7 




8 




9 




10 


1 


11- 


1 


12 




13. 


_ 


14. 




15 . 




16 




17 




18 




19 




20 


1 


21 


1 1 


22 




23 




24 


1 1 


25 




26 


1 


27 




28 


1 


29. 




30 




31 




32.... 








Total Fre- 
quencies! 

Median Rank... 


56 
8.5 


46 
8.0 


10 
18.5 


112 48 64 
20.5 19 21 


51 30 21 
14 13.5 16 


43 26 17 
15 13.5 15 


23 
11 


14 9 
11 12 


9 
21 


7 2 
21 22.5 



! Bxcludes one college for which records were available only for men replying. 

Since this table makes a comparison between the distribution of 
scholarship for those who furnish incomes and those who do not, it 
excludes one college which furnished scholarship records only for those 
men who responded to the questionnaire. When the distribution for 
this college is included the median ranks for those whose records were 
correlated are as follows: 

Median Rank Cases 

Teaching 9 65 

Business 19 67 

Law 14.5 34 

Medicine 14.5 30 

Engineering 10.5 20 

Ministry 20 13 



College Marks as Related to Income 29 

It is also manifestly unfair to compare the incomes of women with the 
incomes of men, even within the same occupation. A comparison of 
the income distribution for women teachers with the distribution for 
men teachers (page 23), shows that only a little more than 7 per cent 
of the women reach or surpass in income the median income for the 
men. To disregard sex in making our comparison would therefore 
involve such absurd assumptions as that a preponderant majority of 
men who are in the teaching profession are far more successful than 
the women in the same profession. 

TREATMENT OF DATA 

The basal measure used in this investigation to represent an individ- 
ual's scholastic achievement is an average of all his marks for his 
entire college course. The record of marks was transcribed in each 
of the cooperating colleges, under the supervision of the registrar, on 
uniform blanks and in accordance with uniform instructions furnished 
by the writer. Transcriptions of records were thus obtained for the 
entire class of 1903 in nine of the colleges. In the other two colleges 
records were furnished only for those individuals who sent replies to 
the occupational questionnaire. 

The calculation of an a verage of all marks obtained was a straight- 
forward process for those colleges which used numerical marking sys- 
tems. There were five such systems. A sixth had part of its marks 
in numerical terms and part in literal terms. The other five used let- 
ters or some other form of symbol, two of them specifying numerical 
equivalents and three making no such specification. Where numerical 
equivalents were assigned, the letters were translated into the equiva- 
lent figures and averages calculated. Where no numerical equiva- 
lents were suggested, such equivalents were arbitrarily assigned as 
seemed best to fit the case. For example, in a literal system consist- 
ing of 5 marks. A, B, C, D and F, the equivalents used were 1, 3, 4, 5 and 
7, respectively, while for a system offering three marks only (H, Honor; 
C, Credit; P, Passed), 90, 80 and 65, respectively, were the equivalents 
used. 

With these averages calculated and the individuals of a given col- 
lege arranged in order of average marks from best to poorest, the first 
member of the paired values to constitute the correlation series for 
that college was at hand. The second measure, income, was lacking, 
however, for about 40 per cent of the individuals. These missing 
measures were in general scattered almost but not quite at random 
throughout the scholarship distribution of the class. But the corre- 
lation was not to be determined directly for the class as a whole, 



30 College Achievement and Vocational Efficiency 

which included many different occupations, but was to be calculated 
for each occupation separately. Therefore, unless the number of cases 
used for each calculation was to be extremely small it was necessary to 
combine the records of all individuals of the same sex engaged in the 
same occupation regardless of the college from which they had been 
graduated. If this procedure was to be followed, it was necessary to 
find some method of equating marks from different colleges. 

This problem of equating marks presented serious difficulties, for 
the variety in marking systems was exactly as great as the number of 
colleges represented. This variety was partly a matter of the kind of 
scale used, partly a matter of the fineness of the scale, and partly a 
difference in meaning of measures called by the same name. For ex- 
ample, four of the colleges used percentage systems, permitting varia- 
tions of 1 per cent or a fraction of 1 per cent in the mark of an individ- 
ual in a given subject. Inspection of the distribution of marks for 
an entire class in each of these colleges showed, however, a range of 
final averages for one of these colleges of 55 per cent to 94 per cent, for 
another college, a range of 78 per cent to 97 per cent. What we have 
learned from the various studies of variability in teachers' marks would 
lead us to conclude that this difference in range is more likely to be due 
to a difference in standards of marking than to a difference in range of 
scholastic achievement from college to college. It would therefore 
be unsafe to give the same scholarship ratings to two individuals receive 
ing the same mark, 80 per cent for example, one being a graduate of 
the first college, the other a graduate of the second college. 

Three colleges marked by letters with percentage equivalents but 
the equivalents were not the same in any two of the three colleges. In 
one college B corresponded to 80 per cent, in another it represented a 
range from 70 to 80 per cent, in the third, it meant from 85 to 95 per 
cent. Three colleges, as already noted, used some form of literal 
marking without numerical equivalents. As to fineness of scale, these 
literal systems ranged from three to seven possible marks. 

Obviously, then, the figure which represented a student's scholarship 
average in a given college, and placed him satisfactorily among his 
classmates, would not be comparable as a gross amount with such an 
average in another college. 

The most promising method for equating the measures in such series 
of varying amounts is ordinarily to transmute the measures, represent- 
ing each measure in terms of its deviation plus or minus from some 
central tendency of its series, and expressing this difference as a multi- 
ple of some measure of the variability of the series. This method was 



College Marks as Related to Income 



31 



applied to six colleges, the average being used as the central tendency 
and the mean square deviation as the measure of variability. The 
tabulation below shows the transmuted marks of the top 10th and the 
lowest 10th in scholarship in each of the six colleges. 

TABLE XIX 

Transmuted Marks of the; Highest 10th and Lowest 10th in Scholarship 

IN Six colleges 



College A 


College B 


College C 


College D 


College E 


College F 


1.856(7 

1.762 

1.638 

1.622 

1.575 

1.528 


1.674(T 

1.659 

1.595 

1.532 

1.485 


1.601(7 

1.539 

1.414 

1.331 

1.268 


2.879a 
2.570 
2.403^ 
2.403 
2.165 
1.761 
1.594 
1.570 
1.570 
1.523 
1.404 
1.332 
—1.166 
1.213 
1.213 
1.213 
1.237 
1.380 
1.380 
1.570 
1.570 
1.761 
1.761 
2.665 


2.189(7 

2.094 

2.065 

1.923 

1.875 

1.808 

1.642 

1.361 

1.361 

1.666 


2.566(7 

2.364 

1.623 

1.497 

1.462 

1.423 








1.347 








1.159 






























































— 1.370 
1.480 
1.504 
1.629 
1.685 
1.742 
1.785 
1.884 
1.932 
1.965 


















— 1.232 








1.331 


—1.294 






1.366 


1.341 
1.341 
1.497 
1.794 
2.262 


—1.532 
1.564 
1.769 
2.054 
2.068 


—1.435 
1.476 
1.788 
2.100 
2.100 


1.368 
1.674 
1.869 
2.267 
2.975 



Evidently these colleges differed in the degree to which their scholar- 
ship distributions approached in form the symmetrical, bell-shaped 
"normal curve of distribution." The combining of these gross meas- 
ures of scholarship in correlation series, irrespective of the distribution 
for each college, would be manifestly unfair. For example, inspection 
of this table shows that the highest student in college B is represented 
by a score which is exceeded by 6 students or 5 per cent of the students 
in college D, by 6 or nearly 6 per cent in college E; the best student in 
college A has a poorer rating than any of the upper 5 th in college D; 
the highest ranking in college C is lower than any of the top 7th per cent 
in college E. While it is probably true that some colleges draw more 
brilliant students than others, it would be fallacious to assume that a 



32 College Achievement and Vocational Efficiency 

given college drew such students on the basis of higher relative scores 
attained by its best students as compared with the best students in 
other colleges. For, in interpreting these college marks it must be 
remembered that they are based upon wholly subjective and unscien- 
tific marking systems. ^ 

The attempt to equate gross amounts of scholarship from college 
to college was finally abandoned because any method that offered 
hope of usable results involved a refinement of statistical procedure and 
an expenditure of time out of all proportion to the refinement of the 
original measures or to the greater exactness of the conclusions to be 
reached. 

The alternatives were (1) to obviate the necessity of equating gross 
scholarship measures in the different colleges by calculating the co- 
efficients for the main occupational groups in each college separately, 
then combining the resultant coefficients, weighting each coefficient 
in such a way as to take account of the number of cases upon which 
it was based; (2) to state the scholarship measure of each individual 
in terms of his relative position among his classmates, assuming that 
a given relative position in one college is equivalent in scholastic 
achievement to the same relative position in any other college, thus pro- 
viding a means of equating ranks rather than gross amounts of scholar- 
ship. Each of these alternatives has advantages and disadvantages. 
Since it was desirable to use all the facts as completely as possible, 
both methods of measurement were adopted. 

In preparing the series of paired values for correlation by the method 
of relative positions it was necessary to adopt some common base for 
ranking the individuals, since the classes varied in size from 45 to 207 
members. For this purpose 32 was arbitrarily selected. Each in- 
dividual in a given college class was ranked on a scale from 1 to 32, ac- 
cording to his relative position in scholarship among his classmates 
(1 highest rank, 32 lowest rank). On the assumption that rank 4 in 
college A is equivalent to rank 4 in any other college, it was now pos- 
sible to equate roughly scholastic standing in the different colleges. 
The method used in forming the series of paired values for calculating 
the coefficients of correlation between income and scholarship in the 
different occupational groups is illustrated in the following tabulation 
of the records of women engaged in social and religious work. The 
women were graduates of six different colleges. 

^ Several of the colleges report changes in their marking systems since 1903. 



College Marks as Related to Income 



33 



TABLE XX 

Tabulation of the Income and Schoi^arship Records op a Given Vocational 
Group as a Basis for Correlation 



Individual 


I 
Income 


II 
Class Scholar- 
ship Rank 


III 
Occupational 
Group Scholar- 
ship Rank 


IV 
Income 
Rank 


a 


$2,100 

2,000 

1,750 

1,750 

1,600 

1,250 

1,200 

1,200 

900 

900 

750 


28 
23 
14 

1 
21 
26 

3 
18 
26 
27 
19 


11 

7 

3 

1 

6 

8.5 

2 

4 

8.5 
10 

5 


1 


b 


2 


c -_ - 


3.5 


d 


3.5 


e 


5 


f 


6 


g 


7.5 


h_- 


7.5 


i 


9.5 


i . __ _ 


9.5 


k 


11 







Individuals a to k, 11 in number, reported themselves as engaged in 
some form of social v^ork or religious work, and as receiving the incomes 
stated in column I. The class tabulations of scholarship in terms of rela- 
tive position on a scale of 1 to 32 showed for these individuals the class 
ranks listed in column II. Since the vocational group classified as 
"Women Engaged in Social and Religious Work" included only 11 
individuals furnishing full data for correlation, the range of ranks for 
income within this group is from 1 to 11. To obtain a parallel series of 
scholarship measures, it was necessary to restate the measures listed 
in column II so that they represented on a scale of 1 to 1 1 the relative 
scholastic achievement as undergraduates of this particular group, e.g., 
women engaged in social and religious work twelve and one-half years 
after graduation. This restatement is made in column III. Column IV 
lists the rank of each individual with reference to income. The series of 
paired values constituting the correlation series are those tabulated in 
columns III and IV. 

The method used for computing the coefficient of correlation was 
Spearman's method by ranks, using the formula 

^ ~ n{n'—l) 

and transmuting p into r by the use of appropriate tables. Table XXI 
records the coefficients calculated by this method for the occupations 
which were represented by a sufficient number of cases to justify cor- 



34 



College Achievement and Vocational Efficiency 



relation. In interpreting these correlations the method of arriving at 
the series of paired values for correlation should be held in mind. It 
will be recalled that these paired values represent the relative standing 
in scholarship and in income of each individual of a given occupational 
group with reference to other college graduates in the same occupational 
group rather than with reference to position in the class as a whole. 
This is important to bear in mind because as Table XVIII, on page 28, 
shows, the scholarship distribution differs materially for men engaged 
in different occupations. 



TABLE XXI 
Correlations Between Scholarship and Income Calculated by the 



Formula: 



P = 1 



6:SD 



n{n^ — 1) 



Occupation 



P. E. 



Number of 
Cases 



men 

Teaching 

Business 

Law 

Medicine 

Engineering 

Ministry 

WOMEN 

Teaching 

Social and Religious Work 
Business 



.28 
.03 
.49 
.26 
.23 
.25 



.07 
.08 
.09 
.11 
.14 
.17 



65 
67 
34 
30 
20 
13 



.04 
.01 
.62 



.07 
.20 
.11 



95 
11 
12 



It will be noted from this table that with one exception for men and 
one for women the correlations are all low. Because of the rather large 
probable errors of the coefficients it is not possible to determine with 
surety from these calculations what variations may exist among different 
vocations as to the closeness of relationship between income and scholar- 
ship. 

If we average the coefficients of correlation for the "learned profes- 
sions" for which college is traditionally supposed to prepare, weighting 
each coefficient roughly as the square root of the number of cases which 
it represents, we obtain for the weighted r, or r^ , as we shall designate 
it, a value of .20 +.05. The procedure by which this r^ was obtained 
is as follows: 



College Marks as Related to Income 



35 



Occupation 


r 


wt 


rXwl 


Number of 
Cases 


Teaching 

Law.- _ 


.281 

.487 

.250 

— .260 


8 
6 

5h 


2.248 

2.922 

.875 

— 1.430 


65 
34 


Ministry 


13 


Medicine 


30 


Total 




23 


4.615 


142 



P.E. of r'^ = 



l-(.200) 



= .20 

(.6745) = .05 



\/l42 

Combining by the same method the correlations for all occupations 
(men) listed in Table XXI, we obtain an r" of .1 1±.04. While the cor- 
relation for the "learned professions" is higher than that for all occupa- 
tions it is still too low to justify the prediction of relative income 12 
years after graduation on the basis of relative undergraduate scholar- 
ship. The weighted coefficient for women in the three occupations 
listed is .15±.05. 

It must again be emphasized that the above method of treatment 
measures only the closeness of correspondence between relative positions 
in scholarship and income within a given occupational group, e.g., business 
or teaching. It takes no account of the scholastic position of the individ- 
uals with reference to the class as a whole. If the individuals of any given 
occupation were distributed throughout the scholarship range in about 
the same way as the individuals of any other occupation, this limited 
interpretation of the measurement would not be important. But inspec- 
tion of the scholarship distribution by occupations given on page 28 
shows that such is not the case. For convenience of reference the essen- 
tial facts of this distribution are restated in Table XXII. 

TABLE XXII 
Percentages of Men in Different Occupations in Successive Divisions of 
Their Respective Classes According to Scholarship 





No. 

of 

Cases 


Percentages in Each Scholastic Quartile, and in the Upper 
and Lower Halves of the Class 


Occupation 


For Men Whose Records 
were Correlated 


For AH Men Whose Income 
Records' were not Available 




Quartiles 
1st 2nd 3rd 4th 


H alvps 
Upper Lower 


Quartiles 
1st 2nd 3rd 4th 


Halves 
Upper Lower 


Teaching 

Business 

Law 

Medicine 

Engineering __ 
Ministry 


65 
67 

34 
30 
20 
13 


49 25 15 11 
21 24 22 33 

26 35 18 21 

27 33 30 10 
35 30 15 20 

8 23 46 23 


74 26 
45 55 
61 39 
60 40 
65 35 
31 69 


50 20 16 14 
15 23 25 37 
27 37 20 16 
19 39 26 16 
30 39 17 13 
Number too 
include. 


70 30 
38 62 
64 36 
58 42 
69 30 
small to 



1 Oneof the colleges furnished scholarship records only for the men who responded to the questionnaire. 
The records of this college therefore had to be excluded from this side of the table, but are included in 
the section dealing with "Men Whose Records were Correlated." 



36 College Achievement and Vocational Efficiency 

It is evident from the statistics shown in this table that for college men 
the scholastic comparison in the case of teachers is, relatively speaking, 
among the members of a high ranking group, while in the case of business 
men it is among the members of a low ranking group. Comparing these 
two vocations by scholarship quar tiles we find in the first or top quartile 
49 per cent of the teachers as against 21 per cent of the business men; 
in the second quartile 25 per cent of the teachers and 24 per cent of the 
business men; in the third quartile 15 per cent of the teachers and 22 
per cent of the business men ; in the fourth quartile 1 1 per cent of the 
teachers and 33 per cent of the business men. Comparing the scholas- 
tic distribution of the two occupations as to percentages above and below 
the middle rank for the class, we find 74 per cent of the teachers as 
against 45 per cent of the business men in the upper half of the class, 
and in the lower half we find 26 per cent of the teachers and 55 per cent 
of the business men. 

Since these vocational variations in the distribution of undergraduate 
scholarship exist, a method of correlation which takes account of the 
exact amounts of income and scholarship would offer a more valuable con- 
tribution toward answering the second and more general question: 
"What is the relation between income rank in one's vocation, and under- 
graduate scholarship rank in the class as a whole?" Such a method of 
correlation would also offer a more exact measure of the relationship in 
question, and so is desirable from that point of view. The difficulty in 
applying this method, as noted earlier in this chapter, arises from the 
failure to discover reliable means of equating the gross amounts of 
scholarship from college to college. In the absence of valid means of 
equating marks in gross amounts, the only possibility of securing correla- 
tions based on gross amounts of scholarship and income was to measure 
the relationship in question for each occupation in each college separately 
and then to combine the results for each occupation from all colleges. 
This method could not hope to yield conclusive results because of the 
small number of cases available for many of the individual correlations. 
However, since the available data were not adapted to more satisfactory 
treatment, this method was adopted. 

The procedure used was as follows. For each college the individuals 
furnishing income data were grouped according to occupations into the 
six major occupational groups represented in the series of correlations 
based on relative positions. Two records were then tabulated for each 
of these individuals: (1) scholarship mark (average of all marks for 
the entire college course), and (2) amount of income for the past year 
(exclusive of inheritance and income from inheritance). These two 



College Marks as Related to Income 

records constituted the paired values for correlation. 
Pearson formula 

% X. y 



37 



Applying the 



coefficients of correlation were calculated for each occupation in each 
college. The resultant coefficients for each of the chief occupations 
were then assembled and averaged, each coefficient having been weight- 
ed as the square root of the number of cases from which it was calcu- 
lated. ^ The weighted r, or r"^ , serves as a measure of the relationship 
in question. Table XXIII shows the coefficients of correlation calcu- 
ated by this method. 

TABLE XXIII 

Correlations Between Marks and Income Based on Gross Amounts of 

Each Factor 



Occupation 


Number of 
Cases 


Number of 
Colleges 


fW 


P. E. 


MEN 

Teaching 

Business 

Law- 


65 
63 
34 
27 
18 


7 
7 
6 
5 
3 


.28 
.10 
.19 

— .30 

— .22 


.07 
.08 
.11 


Medicine _ 


.17 


Engineering 


.15 


WOMEN 

Teaching _ 


95 


7 


.02 


.07 







The ministry is omitted from this series because the number of individuals per college was in most 
cases too small to justify correlation. 

Examination of this series of correlations reveals the same outstand- 
ing features as those noted in the series based upon relative scholastic 
position in the vocational group and relative income position in the 
same group. For convenience in comparing the two series of correla- 
tions they are listed in Table XXIV, in parallel columns. 

In so far as correlations calculated by the method described for series 
two may be accepted as valid for measuring a possible drift of relation- 
ship, the second set of measures offers no more justification than did 
the first series for predicting future vocational achievement on the basis 
of college marks. 

^ For illustration of the method used in securing /-w, see page 35. 



38 



College Achievement and Vocational Efficiency 



TABLE XXIV 

Comparison op Correlations Based on Amounts With Correlations Based 

ON Relative Position in Vocational Group 



Occupation 


r^ Based on Gross 
Amounts of Scholar- 
ship and Income 


No. 

of 

Cases 


r Based on Income 
Rank and Scholar- 
ship Rank within 
Vocational Group 


No. 

of 

Cases 




r^ P.E. 


r P.E. 




MEN 

Teaching. _ _ 


.28 .07 
.10 .08 
.19 .11 

— .30 .17 

— .22 .15 
Cases per college too few 


65 
63 
34 
27 
18 
for corre 


.28 .08 
.03 .09 
.49 .09 

— .26 .12 

— .23 .15 
lation. -25 .18 


65 


Business-- 


67 


Law _- _ - - 


34 


Medicine _ _ _ _ 


30 


Engineering . 

Ministry 


20 
13 


WOMEN 

Teaching 


.02 .06 


95 


.04 .07 


95 


all occupations 

Men 

Women 


.06 .05 
Cases per college too few 


207 
for corre 


.11 .04 
lation. .15 .05 


229 
118 



INTERPRKTATION OF RESULTS 

In the light of the low coefficients of correlation obtained by each 
of the two methods of measurement used, it is apparent that no close 
correspondence exists between the undergraduate marks of the bac- 
calaureate graduate and his income twelve and a half years after grad- 
uation. That some relationship probably does exist is suggested by 
the fact that the majority of the coefficients, while low, are positive. 
But it is clear that no such close correspondence exists between the 
facts measured as has been found to obtain between college rank and 
Who's Who achiev^ement, rank in college, and rank in the law or med- 
ical school, rank in high school and rank in college. 

Two considerations may be mentioned as probably affecting the 
closeness of the relationships in the three cases mentioned above as 
compared with the relationships studied in this investigation. In 
the first place a common factor, which we have been pleased to call 
"general intelligence," is probably the trait most surely measured by 
school marks, whether in high school, college or professional school, 
and by the type of success which is most frequently responsible for 
mention in Who's Who. That this trait is measured with a fair de- 
gree of success by school marks is indicated by the generally close 
agreement between scores, achieved by students in intelligence tests 
and their school marks. It is entirely possible, however, that 



College Marks as Related to Income 



39 



this trait is of far less importance, relatively, in determining success 
in vocation than in determining scholastic achievement. In vocation- 
al success other elements of personal equipment undoubtedly play 
a part. Not only emotional and other "personality" traits, but in 
particular the ability to manage men and the ability to manage things 
evidently have much to do with professional advancement in practi- 
cally every field. This fact impressed the writer strongly in reading 
the occupational records of the class of 1903 from graduation to the 
year 1915-1916 as given in replies to the occupational questionnaire. 
Just how potent are these factors as compared with "general intelli- 
gence" in contributing to vocational success, we have at present no 
certain means of knowing. It is the writer's opinion that their rela- 
tive potency will undoubtedly vary with dififerent occupations. 

The second consideration is the variation in scholarship range for 
different occupations. In interpreting any measurement of rela- 
tionship between marks and later success, this factor seems important 
enough to justify a summary at this point of the available data on the 
subject. These data are presented in Tables XXV to XXVIII. 

While these tabulations arc not comparable as to details, they do 
throw into relief the marked selective tendency of scholastic success 
in relation to vocation, and corroborate the writer's finding of the very 
high scholastic position of the teaching profession, the equally low one 
of business, and of the generally high rank of lawyers and engineers. 
The figures as to the ministry are conflicting. Only nine out of one hun- 
dred Wesleyan high honor men were ministers, while Paull found 53 per 
cent of Harvard ministers in the upper third of their class. 



TABLE XXV 
Occupational Distribution of College Graduates According to Per Cent 
Found in Successive Fifths in Scholastic Rank (Men of 1903, Graduates 
OF Six Colleges) [Gambrill] 





Highest 
Fifth 


Second 
Fifth 


Middle 
Fifth 


Fourth 
Fifth 


Lowest 
Fifth 


Number 
of Cases 


Teaching 


41 
4 

20 
7 

26 


23 
19 

24 
27 
35 
22 


18 
26 
27 
39 
26 
11 


11 
21 
20 
17 
9 
55 


7 
30 
10 
10 

4 
11 


56 


Business 


109 


Law _ _ _ 


51 


Medicine- 


41 


Engineering. _ 


23 


Ministry 


9 









40 



College Achievement and Vocational Efficiency 



TABLE XXVI 

Occupational Distribution of "Successfui^" Men According to Per Cent 

Found in Successive Fifths of Scholarship Range ^ [Kunkel] 





Highest 
Fifth 


Second 
Fifth 


Middle 
Fifth 


Fourth 
Fifth 


Lowest 
Fifth 


Number 
of Cases 


Teaching _ _ _ 


62 
16 

32.5 
24.1 
30.8 
25 

9.1 
40 


20 

18 

18.5 

27.6 

11.9 

25 

9.1 
20 


5.5 
22 

23.1 
24.1 
19.2 
25 

45.5 
10 


9.1 
22 

10.8 
10.3 
21.5 
17 

9.1 


3.6 
22 

16.9 
13.8 
16.7 

7.5 
18.2 
30 


55 


Business _ _ 


50 


Law__ 


65 


Medicine . 


29 


Engineering 


42 


Ministry _ _ _ _ 


40 


Journalism 


11 


Science _ _ _ _ 


10 









TABLE XXVII 

Distribution According to Occupation of 2,145 Harvard College Graduates 

OF THE Classes 1901, 1902, 1903, 1904, 1905, Showing Percentage in 

Each Successive Scholastic Tertile ^ [Paull] 



Highest 
Third 



Middle 
Third 



Lowest 
Third 



Number 
of Cases 



Teaching and Social Science 

Business 

Manufacturing 

Law 

Medicine 

Engineering 

Ministry 

Journalism 

Agriculture 

Other Occupati ons 



54 
21 
21 
43 
29 
36 
53 
29 
14 
26 



32 
33 
35 
34 
34 
34 
32 
41 
30 
25 



14 
46 
44 
23 
37 
30 
15 
30 
56 
49 



307 

550 

200 

486 

141 

160 

52 

53 

43 

153 



TABLE XXVIII 

Percentages of High Honor Men Compared With Percentages of Wesleyan 

Graduates Found in Who's Who for Different Occupations^ 

[Nicholson] 



High Honor Graduates, 

1875-1906. (100 men) 



Wesleyan Graduates 
Mentioned in Who's 
Who (159 men) 



Teaching 

Law 

Ministry 

Business 

Physicians 

Scientists 

Writing and Journalism. 
Patent Office Examiner. 




40 
15 
25 

Practically all the others 
are in some one of the 
learned professions. 



» "The Lafayette," April 15, 1917. 

2 "The Relative Standing in College of Graduates Entering Various Professions," School and 
Society, May 26, 1917. 

' "Success in College and in After Life," School and Society, August 14, 1915, 



College Marks as Related to Income 41 

The fact that Who's Who as a measure of success unduly weights 
certain occupations has been recognized by several of the investigators 
who have studied the relation between success in college and success 
in after life. It should be noted that those occupations which this 
measure favors are among the vocations which have a very high scholar- 
ship distribution. Nicholson found, for example, that 55 per cent of 
Wesleyan's high honor men for the years 1875-1906 were teachers and 
that 40 per cent of the Wesleyan Who's Who men were in this occupa- 
tion. He also found that the 1914-1915 edition of Who's Who includes 
the names of all but four of the faculty of Wesleyan University of 
professorial rank, and from 30 per cent to practically 100 per cent of 
the professors of a representative group of other colleges. Law is 
another occupation which has a relatively high scholastic distribution. 
According to the educational statistics given in the 1910-1911 edition 
of Who's Who, law has a larger number of representatives in the volume 
than any other occupation. The vocational selection of Who's Who 
thus seems, in part at least, to be identical with the vocational selection 
of high scholarship. 

The failure to find a very close relation between college marks and 
later income does not prove that it does not pay to study, any more 
than the opposite finding would prove that it does pay to study. ^ As 
pointed out in Chapter I a high correlation could at best prove that 
the college had succeeded in discovering and rewarding the kind of 
ability that later did succeed in vocation — that its measures and those 
of the world outside of college are the same. In any case the burden 
of proof would still rest upon the college to show that the training 
which it had given its able men had contributed materially to their 
success. The finding of a low correlation does show, however, either 
that the college has failed to enlist the energies of its undergraduates 
to such a degree that its marks serve as an index of vocational ability 
as measured by income, or that the traits which lead to scholastic 
success are not in large measure the traits which register later in rela- 
tively high income within one's vocational group. 

^ Note the implication of Foster's article, "Should Students Study?" Harper's 
Magazine, September, 1916. 



. CHAPTER IV 

EXTRA-CURRICULAR ACTIVITY IN RELATION TO 

INCOME 

The college authorities usually record a single measure of a student's 
achievement — his scholastic marks. His mates, however, rate him in 
terms of his zeal and success in the multitude of activities which go to 
make up what is known as "college life." By implication this "life" 
seems to exclude studies, yet by a large proportion of students and "old 
grads" it is ranked as the part of college experience which is really fruit- 
ful in preparing for the practical demands of life when college days are 
over. Whether this judgment is valid or not, it may easily be true that 
many a student reveals the quality of his native ability more clearly in 
extra-curricular activities than he does in his college studies. Ability 
is most accurately measured when the result tested is the product of 
wholehearted effort. Since in extra-curricular activities the student is 
himself the judge of worth, he is likely to "go in" only for those pursuits 
which appeal to his interest or which promise to yield results which are 
satisfying, such as esteem of classmates, personal glory. Hence the 
impulsion to activity is from within and the energy called forth is likely 
to be purposive to a degree which, unfortunately, is seldom matched in 
the scholastic work of the college. 

To the writer it seems distinctly worthwhile to discover, if possible, to 
what extent extra-ctu"ricular activities and success are prognostic of 
success in later life. The men who have investigated the relationship 
between success in college and success in after-life usually imply and 
sometimes state the conviction that their findings have disproved the 
belief that a student's prominence in imdergraduate extra-curricular 
activities offers an index of his probable success in later life. Only one 
of these writers has taken the trouble to investigate the foundation of this 
belief of the rank and file of students and alumni, as opposed to the 
conviction of college officials. Nicholson, ^ in connection with his 
study of "College Records and Distinction in Life," made a study of the 
relation between extra-curricular success and Who's Who distinction. 
His study covers ten classes of Wesleyan University from 1890 to 1899, 
inclusive. The yearbook published by the junior class at Wesleyan 
University, Olla Podrida, has a well defined system of "points" for the 



^ Chapter II. For details of the latter criterion, see summary of this study, 
pp. 8-10. 

42 



Extra-Curricular Activity in Relation to Income 43 

various types of non-academic achievement. These points were used 
by Nicholson as the criterion for measuring distinction in extra-curricu- 
lar ptu-suits. Membership in Who's Who, or the type of achievement 
which would entitle one to such mention as judged by classmates or 
faculty, was the standard for testing distinction in life. Using these 
two measures, he found that of the 54 men who won distinction 
from their classmates while undergraduates, 18 or one- third attained 
noteworthy success in after-life. In these same classes, Nicholson had 
found that 30 per cent of the men who achieved the scholastic distinction 
of election to the Phi Beta Kappa Society won the type of distinction in 
after-life indicated by inclusion in Who's Who or by faculty and class- 
mates judgment of being worthy of such mention. "In other words," 
says Nicholson, "the Phi Beta Kappa man and the one who is honored 
by his classmates by election to undergraduate office have each approxi- 
mately the same chance of becoming famous in after-life." Nicholson's 
results as to the relation between high scholarship and later distinction 
have been widely quoted. Strange to say, little attention seems to have 
been given to the fact that he found an equally close relationship be- 
tween non-academic tmdergraduate achievement and later distinction. 

Another study of extra-curricular activities, while not directly com- 
parable because it deals with a professional group, engineers, should be 
mentioned here. This study was one phase of the investigation carried 
on by the Association of College Registrars, the other phase of 
which was reported in Chapter II. The men whose extra-scholastic 
activities were studied had been rated as eminent on the basis of office 
holding, membership in standing committees, or service as representa- 
tives of the four "founder" engineer societies during the years 1915-1919. 
This rating, as stated by Professor Walters, of Lehigh University, who 
reports the investigation, emphasizes scientific and ethical phases of 
success. 

The registrars were asked to report specifically on activities in (a) 
athletics, (b) literary and engineering societies, and (c) social organiza- 
tions. Returns were received for about one-fifth of the men as compared 
with more than two-thirds on scholarship rating. The ratings used were 
as follows : Under athletics, the rating A was assigned to men who won 
letters in major sports; B, to those who played on first or second teams; 
C, to those who played on class teams; D, to those who took some part 
in athletics; E, to those not recorded as taking any part in athletics. 
Under literary and engineering societies ; A was given to those who held 
offices or served on editorial boards of literary and engineering journals; 
B, to those who were active in the societies in various ways; C, to those 



44 



College Achievement and Vocational Efficiency 



who participated moderately; D, to those who held membership; E, to 
those with no record in such activities. A similar plan was followed 
for rating as to activity in social organizations. 

The following table shows the distribution of the men on the basis of 
these ratings. 

TABLE XXIX 
Eminent Engineers. Extra-Scholastic Activities 





Athletics 


Literary and 
Scientific 


Social 


Rating 












No. 


Per Cent 


No. 


Per Cent 


No. 


Per Cent 


A 


24 


13.5 


59 


31.5 


44 


25.7 


B 


14 


7.9 


19 


10.2 


11 


6.4 


C 


19 


10.6 


22 


11.8 


50 


29.3 


D 


4 


2.2 


22 


11.8 


10 


5.8 


E 


117 


65.7 


65 


34.7 


56 


32.7 


Total 


178 




187 




171 





Professor Walters summarizes the results as follows : ^ 

"According to the table, two-thirds of the men upon whom reports 
were made did not take part in athletics, a proportion probably true for 
all college students in earlier days. Of those who did take part, the 
results show the largest percentage of men in the A rating — good 
athletes. 

* 'According to the table, about two-thirds of the men upon whom re- 
ports were made took part in literary and engineering society activities; 
of these the largest percentage were in the A rating — were energetic in 
their activities along these lines. 

"According to the table, about two-thirds of the men upon whom re- 
ports were made took part in social affairs. The largest percentage 
were moderately active; the next largest percentage were energetically 
active. 

"Conclusions cannot safely be drawn from these extra-scholastic 
figures. The relatively small number of participants and the meager in- 
terest in athletics in the era represented preclude generalization as to 
the influence of athletics, particularly as applied to present-day college 
life when success in sports is so widely sought and so highly rewarded." 

The writer of this monograph has made a further study of the relation- 

^ Walters: "The Scholastic Training of Eminent American Engineers," 



School and Society, Mar. 12, 1921. 



Extra-Curricular Activity in Relation to Income 45 

ship between extra-curricular attainment and success in life, using as 
subjects the members of the class of 1903 in six of the cooperating col- 
leges listed in Chapter III. The first and most serious difficulty in 
attempting such an investigation lies in obtaining a valid measure of 
success in extra-curricular pursuits. So far as the writer has been able 
to discover, college officials have until very recently made no record of 
such achievements. The only records available for the class of 1903 are 
to be found in student yearbooks in which are recorded by the students 
the extra-curricular activities of the seniors throughout their college 
course: membership in various organizations, class, athletic, literary, 
musical, forensic, dramatic or social; offices held and honors won. The 
completeness of this record differs greatly from college to college. The 
lack of uniformity in activities represented and the difference in the 
significance of membership in certain types of organizations in different 
colleges, as well as this variation in the completeness of the records, 
make these student yearbooks a rather unsatisfactory basis for measur- 
ing activity and success in extra-curricular pursuits. They furnish, 
however, the nearest approach to an objective measure, and contain, in 
fact, the only available record of such activities. They have, therefore, 
been used by the writer as a basis for rating extra-curricular success in 
an attempt to measure the relationship between this type of under- 
graduate achievement and success in vocation as measured by income. 

Student yearbooks containing the records of the class of 1903 were se- 
cured from six of the cooperating colleges listed in Chapter III. From 
these books tabulations were made for each college separately, showing 
for each member of the class the activities recorded, offices held, and 
honors won. Because of the variations among the colleges as to com- 
pleteness of data, number and type of activities represented, and signi- 
ficance of given activities, there was no attempt to equate directly the 
records of non-scholastic activities in the different colleges. Inspection 
of the records forced the conviction that any attempt to apply a point 
system, for example, without intimate knowledge of the undergraduate 
life of every college included in the investigation would simply lead to a 
spurious appearance of objectivity. Recourse was therefore had to the 
method of ranking each individual with reference to his relative position 
among his classmates as to range and intensity of extra-curricular 
activity and the winning of non-academic honors. A given rank was 
then treated as of equal value, regardless of the college represented. 

It was also apparent that without this intimate knowledge of student 
life in a particular college it was hazardous to attempt a gradation of the 
extra-curricular success of the members of a class on a fine scale consist- 



46 



College Achievement and Vocational Efficiency 



ing of a large number of units. This was especially true of colleges 
whose yearbooks presented rather meagre records of extra-curricular 
pursuits. It did seem possible, however, to arrange the individuals of 
any given college class in an order of meiit series, on a scale from 1 to 5, 
without danger oi greatly displacing an appreciable number of persons 
from their true positions among their fellows. This method was there- 
fore followed. Each individual was assigned a rank in extra-curricular 
activities which represented the writer's judgment, based on student 
yearbook records, of his relative position among his classmates on a scale 
from 1 to 5. Those individuals who had furnished a statement of in- 
come were then ranked on a scale from^ 1 to 5, according to their relative 
income rankings in their respective vocations. 

The paired values constituting the series for correlation were ranks 
on a scale from 1 to 5, representing each individual's relative position 
(1) in extra-curricular achievement among his classmates, (2) in income 
among the mxcmbers of a given occupational group, — law, teaching, or 
business. These ranks were then treated as amounts, and the coeffi- 
cient of correlation calculated by the Pearson formula 

^ X . y 



r = 



Vx'-V'v' 



This calculation yielded a coefficient of correlation for men of .21+.04 
based on 190 cases drawn fiom all vocational groups which were large 
enough to furnish income comparisons. The correlation for women, 
based on 47 cases, was .31±.08. 

Correlations calculated by this method for each of the chief occupa- 
tional groups yield the results shown in Table XXX. 

TABLE XXX 

Correlations Between Rank in Income and Rank in Extra-Curricular 
Activity Based on College Yearbook Records 



Occupation 



Teaching 

Business 

Law 

Medicine 

Engineering 

Ministry 

All Occupations 

Men 

Women 



.19 
.32 
.28 
.12 
.15 
.36 



.21 

.31 



P. E. 



.09 
.08 
.11 
.13 
.15 
.17 



,04 
,08 



Number of 
Individuals 



46 
51 
29 
24 
18 
11 



190 
47 



Extra-Curricular Activity in Relation to Income 47 

The result of this crude measurement of relationship between extra- 
curricular success and income twelve years after graduation is the posi- 
tive but small correlation for all occupations (men) indicated by an r of 
.21 ±.04 based upon a sufficient number of cases to give it statistical 
reliability. It also suggests that for certain occupations, notably the 
ministry, business, and law, the relationship possibly tends to be closer 
than that fotmd for all occupations, as indicated by r= .36 ±.17 for the 
ministry, r~ .32±.08 lor business, and r = .28±.ll for law. In general, 
however, the P.E-'s of these coefficients are large. Only in the case of 
business does the relative size of the P.E- and the coefficient of correla- 
tion satisfy fully the statistical requirements for reliability. The other 
coefficients vary in statistical reliability and the variations in their size 
may be witliout real significance. 

In order to make a comparison between the value of scholarship and of 
extra-curricular attainment as bases for the prognosis of future success 
as measured by income, it was necessary to calculate coefficients of cor- 
relation between scholarship and income by the same method as that 
used in securing the correlations between extra-curricular achievement 
and income. The procedure was as follows. Each individual was rank- 
ed as to scholarship on a scale from 1 to 5, according to his relative 
scholastic position in the class as a whole. He was then ranked on a 
scale from 1 to 5, according to his relative income position within his vo- 
cational group. These two rankings for each individual constituted 
the paired values for the correlation series. The method used in com- 
puting the coefficients was the same as that described for the measure- 
ment of the relation between extra-curricular achievement and income. 
The coefficients obtained were .11±.05 for men and — .08±.09 for 
women. 

Comparing these coefficients with those obtained for extra-curricular 
achievement, we find the correlation for a composite of all occupations 
almost twice as large for extra-curricular achievement and income as 
for scholarship and income, i.e., .21 ±.04 as against .11±.05. Table 
XXXI shows comparatively the co fficients for the two sets of facts 
for each of the larger occupational groups. It will be noted that for 
all occupations except law and the ministry the correlations between 
extra-curricular success and income are higher than the correlations 
between scholarship and income. The difference is very marked in the 
case of business. 

It was the writer's original purpose to supplement the measurements 
just reported, by measuring the extent of agreement between class- 
mates' and college officials' judgments of vocational success and the 



48 



College Achievement and Vocational Efficiency 



TABLE XXXI 

Comparison of Closeness of Relationship Between Extra-Curricular 
Achievement and Income, and Scholarship and Income 



Occupation 



Teaching 

Business 

Law 

Medicine 

Engineering 
Ministry 



All Occupations 
Men 

Women 



Extra-Curricular 
Achievement 
and Income 



Scholarship and 
Income 



.19 
.32 
.28 
.12 
.15 
.36 



,21 
,31 



P. E. 



,09 
,08 
,11 
.13 
.15 
.17 



04 
08 



P. E. 



11 


.09 


03 


.08 


58 


.07 


21 


.13 


25 


.16 


40 


.17 


11 


.05 


08 


.09 



Income measure here used, and also the relation betv^^een classmates' 
and college officials' judgments of extra-curricular success and the rat- 
ings given by the writer on the basis of yearbook records. It proved, 
how^ever, extremely difficult to secure such judgments. Not only v^as 
the required task a difficult and laborious one at best, but those vv^ho 
were asked to make the ratings usually felt that they had not intimate 
enough knowledge of the careers of their classmates or former students 
to make any sort of a fair comparative rating. Those altruistic men 
and women who undertook the task did so in every case with expressions 
of doubt as to the accuracy of their judgments, especially in the matter 
of present vocational success. This was true in spite of the fact that 
the judges had been very carefully selected with reference to their prob- 
able opportunities for keeping in intimate touch with the careers of 
their classmates and former students. A few ratings by classmates were 
secured, however, and one rating by a former dean. The data thus 
secured are not adequate for any conclusive evidence on the points in 
question. The measurements based upon them are presented with a 
clear realization of their unavoidable crudities and their numerous 
sources of unreliability. The results are suggestive of possible trends 
only in connection with the remainder of the study. 

The directions for ranking which accompanied the explanatory letter 
sent to the judges, were as follows: 

Directions for Ranking 

In column I, place opposite each name a number which represents that in- 
dividual's rank in the class on the basis of general all-round promise while a stu- 
dent. The individual ranking highest should be marked 1, the next highest 2, 
and so on. Any two or more judged to be equal in rank may be given the same 
ranking number. 



Extra-Curricular Activity in Relation to Income 49 

In column II, rank as above, on the basis of activity and success in extra-cur- 
ricular or student activities while in college. Rank the highest individual 1; 
the next highest 2, and so on. 

In column III, rate each individual for present vocational success, on a scale 
from 1 to 5. Let 1 equal eminently successful in vocation; 2 very successful; 3 
fairly successful or an average success; 4 somewhat below average success; 5 not 
successful, that is, just barely getting on. In cases where you feel that success 
has been greatly aided by social position or hereditary wealth, please indicate the 
fact by (s) or (w) after the rating given. 

This judgment need not necessarily be based on earning power. Make your own 
definition of "vocational success." If you care to tell me what factors you in- 
clude in the definition I should be glad of such a statement. 

An alphabetical list of the class was furnished, ruled with three par- 
allel columns for the appropriate ratings for each individual. The direc- 
tions for ranking were rarely followed in their entirety, however. Some 
judges ranked their classmates in promise and in extra-curricular success 
on a scale from 1 to 5, others ranked them on a scale of 1 to 10, etc., 
while an occasional judge ranked them as requested. More uniform 
results would probably have been secured if all rankings had been called 
for on a 1 to 5 scale basis. In order to make the ratings comparable the 
writer reduced the rankings obtained to such a five-point basis. For 
example, where ten ranks had been used, ranks 1 and 2 were called 1, 3 
and 4 were called 2, etc. These rerankings were used in all cases where 
rankings by different judges had to be compared or combined. 

The ratings thus reduced to a 1 to 5 rank basis, were then correlated, 
each with every other, with scholarship and income, also reduced to a 
1 to 5 rank basis, and with the author's rating upon extra-curricular 
activities, based on yearbook records. The classmates' ratings used 
in the correlations represent the average of the judgments of two or 
three judges, except in the case of one college where only one judgment 
was available. 

The method of correlation used was that described on page 46. The 
calculations were made for each college separately, and then combined 
by the method described in Chapter III, page 36. Table XXXII 
presents the intercorrelations of the measures used. 

Since only one set of judgments of a college official was available 
the measurements based on these judgments are presented simply as 
a matter of record, with no attempt to draw conclusions from them. 
The summary which follows takes no account of these measurements. 

The calculations based on the judgment of one college dean gave 

the following correlations: 

Dean's Judgment of Vocational Success and Rank in Scholarship .01 + .09 n = 4:9 
Dean's Judgment of Vocational Success and Extra-curricular 

Success (Yr. Bk.) -.— .54+. 07 « = 43 

Dean's Judgment of Vocational Success and Income . 46+ .11 « = 22 



50 



College Achievement and Vocational Efficiency 



TABLE XXXII 
Correlations Between Various Measures op College Success and op 

Vocational Success 



Men 



P. E Cases 



Women 



rw P. H. Cases 



Promise and Extra-curricular Success (C. J.) 

Promise and Extra-curricular Success (Yr. Bk.) 

Promise and Scholarship Rank 

Promise and Vocational Success (C. J) 

Promise and Income 

Extra-curricular Success (C. J.) and Extra-curri- 
cular Success ( Yr . Bk. ) 

Extra-curricular Success (C. J.) and Scholarship 

Rank 

Extra-curricular Success (C. J.) and Vocational 

Success (C. J.) 

Extra-curricular Success (C. J.) and Income 

Extra-curricular Success (Yr. Bk.) and Scholar- 
ship Rank 

Extra-curricular Success (Yr. Bk.) and Vocational 

Success (C. J.) 

Extra-ciuricular Success (Yr. Bk.) and Income 

Present Vocational Success (C. J.) and Scholarship 

Present Vocational Success (C. J.) and Income 

Income and Scholarship 



.37 


.05 


100 


.63 


.03 


.32 


.05 


163 


.32 


.05 


.48 


.04 


165 


.36 


.05 


.63 


.04 


80 


.54 


.04 


.28 


.06 


98 


.22 


.09 


.69 


.04 


101 


.69 


.03 


.17 


.06 


100 


.22 


.05 


.35 


.07 


77 


.35 


.07 


.21 


.08 


59 


.72 


.05 


.16 


.04 


290 


.21 


.05 


.42 


.06 


81 


.04 


.06 


.22 


.05 


169 


.32 


.05 


.39 


.06 


84 


.24 


.06 


.44 


.08 


48 


.24 


.10 


.12 


.05 


193 


-.14 


.09 



154 
154 
155 
108 
43 

155 

155 

71 
44 

154 

103 
46 

104 
38 
46 



NOTE: C. J.-Classmates Judgment; Yr. Bk.-Year Book Rating. Classmates' judgment of Present 
Vocational Success includes, in the case of married women, success in homemaking. 

The nature of much of the data used in calculating these correlations 
is too unsatisfactory and the method too crude to give significance to 
the absolute size of the coefficients. Considered comparatively, how- 
ever, the trends are remarkably consistent and suggest the probable 
reality of the relationships indicated. At least they suggest the de- 
sirability of further study for verification or negation of the suggested 
trend. 

So far as weight may be given to these coefficients considered com- 
paratively, they serve to support the conclusion, based upon the measure- 
ment reported in the first part of this chapter that the relation between 
vocational success and extra-curricular activity is somewhat closer than 
the relationship between vocational success and scholarship. For the 
measurement just reported this holds true whether we measure voca- 
tional success in terms of income or of classmates' judgments, and 
whether we measure extra-curricular success by the judgments of 
classmates twelve and one-half years after graduation, or by ratings 
based on class yearbook records. 

The results of the measurements reported in this chapter do not 
prove that college life contributes more to vocational success than does 



Extra-Curricular Activity in Relation to Income 5 1 

the work of the classroom, and that therefore college life is the thing 
and studies do not count. It only shows that the extra-curricular ac- 
tivities and success of the student probably are a selective agency in 
discovering the kind of ability which will later achieve vocational success, 
and that these activities should therefore be taken into account in any 
prognosis of such success. For the guidance of appointment com- 
mittees and educational and vocational advisers of students, it is im- 
portant that these findings be verified and that the variations in closeness 
of the relationships for different occupations be investigated. 

RKlyATlON BETWEEN RANK IN BOTH SCHOLARSHIP AND EXTRA-CURRICULAR 
ACTIVITY AND RANK IN VOCATION 

"General intelligence" and whatever other traits are specifically meas- 
ured by marks, play a part in vocational success. Leadership, executive 
ability, energy — whatever qualities are measured by extra-curricular 
success — also play a part, perhaps a larger part, in such success. It 
would be desirable to measure the relationship between vocational 
success and the attainment of high rank in both scholarship and extra- 
curricular activities. The data available for this purpose are not suffi- 
cient for reliable statistical treatment. A tabulation, however, of high 
ranking men and low ranking men on the basis of college achievement 
in both measures, and the income ranks of these men, is highly interest- 
ing and suggestive. Such a tabulation is presented in Table XXXIII. 

The tendency shown here suggests the tentative conclusion that the 
individual who has the qualities which enable him to distinguish him- 
self in both scholarship and extra-curricular pursuits, is likely to rank 
well above the average of his classmates in his vocation twelve and one- 
half years after graduation, whether his success be measured by income 
or by the judgments of his classmates. The tendency seems almost 
equally strong at the other end of the scale, for the men who rank low 
in college by both measures seem to stand low in vocational achievement. ^ 

^ The rather consistently higher rank of men in this lower group, when rated 
by classmates' judgment, than when rated by income is probably due to the fact 
that only two judges gave any rating of 5, and a number gave no rating, or 
almost no ratings below 3. 



52 



College Achievement and Vocational Efficiency 



TABLE XXXIII 

Vocational Efficiency Ranks of Men Standing High in Both Scholarship 
AND Extra- CuRRicuLAR Activity and of Men Rating Low by Both 

Measures 



Scholarship 
Rank 1-5 


Extra-cur- 
ricular Rank 
C.J. 


Extra-cur- 
ricular Rank 
Yr. Bk. 


Income 
Rank in 
Occupational 
Group 


Vocational 

Success 

C.J. 


Occupa- 
tion 






1 


3 




L 




1.5 


1 


1 




B 




3 


1 


1 


3 


T 






1 


1 




T 






2 


1 




T 






1 


2 




L 






1 


3 


15. 


L 






1 


3 




L 


2 




2 


2 


2.5 


B 


2 


1.5 


2 


3 


1 


E 


1 




2 


3 


2 


B 


4 


4.5 


5 


5 


3 


M 


5 


5 


4 


3 


3 


B 


5 


5 


5 


3 


4 


B 


4 


4 


5 


2 


3 


B 


4 


5 


4 


? 


4 


B 


4 


4 


4 


3 


3 


M 


5 


5 


5 


5 


3 


L 


5 


4 


4 


5 


3 


L 


4 


4 


5 


4 


3 


M 


5 


4 


5 


5 


? 


L 


5 


5 


4 


2 


3 


E 


4 


5 


5 


3 


3 


B 


4 


5 


5 


4 


2 


E 


4 


4 


4 


5 


3 


T 


4 


5 


5 


4 


3 


B 


4 


5 


5 


4 


2W. 


B 


5 


5 


4 


3 


3 


T 


4 


4.5 


5 


4 


3 


B 


4 


4.5 


5 


9 


3 


P 


5 


3.5 


5 


4 


3 


T 



T-Teaching; B-Business; L-Law; P-Medicine; E- Engineering; M-Ministry; S. W.-Social position or 
hereditary wealth, respectively, have in the opinion of the judge greatly influenced success. 



CHAPTER V 

INFLUENCE OE THE COLLEGE COURSE UPON THE 
VOCATIONS OF COLLEGE GRADUATES 

In 1910, Frederick P. Keppel, ^ then dean of Columbia College, under- 
took an investigation to discover what influence the college course 
exerted on the choice of the life careers of its students. His subjects 
included the members of the classes of 1908, 1909 and 1910 of Colum- 
bia and Dartmouth Colleges. To these men he sent a questionnaire 
containing the following questions:. 

Have you come to a fairly definite decision as to what your life work is to be? 

Nature of work? 

Was the decision reached before entering college? 

If after entering, was it in the freshman, sophomore, junior, or senior year, or 
after graduation? 

If you can conveniently do so, state in a few words the reason for your decision. 

If you have changed one fairly definite plan for another, kindly indicate the time 
of change and the reason for it. 

Of the 800 men addressed, 519 or nearly 65 per cent replied. The 
addresses of those who failed to reply were checked up roughly. As 
to the reliability of the conclusions drawn from the group replying, 
Keppel says, "The number who are apparently in University profes- 
sional schools or in teaching positions make it clear that we may safely 
draw our conclusions as to the general conditions from the replies 
that have been received, provided we remember that the proportion 
of men still in doubt as to their future work is naturally greater in the 
case of men who did not reply than in that of those who did." 

He found that all but 26 of the men who replied had come to some 
decision as to their life work. As to the time of choosing, he found 
that of the 493 who had made up their minds, 216 had reached their 
decision before entering college, 43 had chosen after graduation, 208 
had decided during the college course, and 32 failed to specify the time 
of choosing. The decisions during the college course were distributed 
as follows: freshman year, 20; sophomore year, 38; junior year, 87; 
senior year, 63. Thirty- two men did not indicate the year in which 
their decision was reached. The junior year appears to be the crit- 
ical time of decision for those who choose their vocation during the 
college course. Keppel thinks this may be explained by the fact that 
a student's twenty-first birthday is more likely than not to fall in his 
junior year. 

^ "Occupations of College Graduates as Influenced by the College Course," 
Educational Review, Dec. 1910. 

53 



54 College Achievement and Vocational Eiflciency 

The second question considered was, what were the reasons which 
determined the plans of these five hundred young men as to what they 
would do with their lives, and in particular, just what did their college 
experience have to do with the decision? A number of those replying 
gave no reason for their decisions and some gave more than one reason. 
In checking up the answers the investigator apportioned these pro 
rata so that the answers represent not only whole votes but one-half 
and one- third votes. 

Keppel says that more than halt the reasons offered were not very 
illuminating, as might be expected from the form of the question put. 
The reasons offered may be summarized as follows: 

Work likely to be congenial 84 

Best fitted for this work 57 

Path of least resistance 23 

Opportunity for service 35 

Career offering wide opportunities 24 

Chance for outdoor life 16 

Liked sample got in summer 19 

Opening up of specific opportunity 27 

Example of parents or other relatives 52 

Financial reward, immediate or prospective 23 

In the great majority of cases the college was not mentioned as a 
factor in the choice, and several men specifically stated that their 
college career had had nothing to do with their plans for the future. 
Keppel thinks that the college may take some credit for the group who 
offered as a reason for choice, "opportunity for service" or "career 
with wide opportunities." The references to undergraduate activities 
were scattering, but the investigator says that there were enough of 
them to offer one more argument for paying attention to these activi- 
ties as an integral part of the educational equipment of the college. 

Eighty-seven men, or 16 per cent of those replying, changed their 
plans during the college course. Specific reasons for the change were 
given in 70 cases, but only 30 of these made any mention of the college 
career. Five changes were due indirectly to college influence. For 
example, one man decided to enter the ministry as the result of a visit 
to Northfield, another decided to become a lawyer instead of a doctor 
because of success in college debating. Still another gave up his plans 
to be a' teacher because college instructors impressed him as being 
singularly remote from the affairs of real life. Sixteen of the men 
changed their plans because they disliked the samples they got in col- 
lege of the work required in their chosen callings. Only twenty-five 
changed because of the direct influence of some college subject. 



Influence of the College Course 55 

Keppel concludes that a large proportion of boys have decided upon 
a vocation before entering college and that college officials are not 
using this fact as they might to focus the student's interest in the sub- 
jects which form the broad foundation for his work or those which 
lead directly to it. In the case of those students who have not decided 
upon a life career before entering college, the college is missing its 
opportunity to stimulate and guide them in this important choice. 

Keppel's study covers men who at the time of the investigation had 
just graduated from college, or had been out from one to two years 
only. It does not reckon, therefore, with the instability of "choice" 
based upon chance factors, which are likely to cause changes in occu- 
pation one, two, three, five or ten years after graduation. The writer 
of this monograph made a study similar in certain features to that of 
Keppel, but based upon the records of men and women who had been 
out of college for twelve and a half years — presumably long enough to 
have found their vocational level. The specific questions investigated 
were: 

1. When did these men and women choose their occupations? 

2. What reasons determined their initial occupations? 

3. What proportion have remained in the initial occupation entered upon grad- 
uation and what proportion have changed their occupations? 

4. How are these changes distributed among the larger occupational groups? 

5. What reasons are assigned for change of occupation? 

TIME OF CHOOSING OCCUPATIONS BY COLLEGE STUDENTS 

The first question considered in studying the influence of the college 
upon the determination of its students' life careers, was the time when 
students choose their vocations. If the vocation is chosen before 
entering college, manifestly the college has had nothing to do with the 
decision. If the choice is made during the college course, it is more 
probable, though by no means certain, that the college has contributed 
to the decision. If it is made after graduation it is probable that the 
college has not influenced the decision in any large measure. 

Among the questions sent to the members of the class of 1903 in 
the cooperating colleges, were the following: 

Did you choose a vocation before entering college? 

During the college course? 

After graduation? 

Was this chosen vocation your present one? If not, what was it? 

To these questions 260 men and 136 women responded. Their 
answers are summarized in Table XXXIV and grouped according to 
occupations. The comparison between results for dififerent occupations 
is one of the interesting features which Table XXXIV offers. 



56 



College Achievement and Vocational Eificlency 



TABLE XXXIV 

Percentages of College Graduates Who Chose Their Occupations 
AT Specified Times, Distributed According to Occupations 



Final 
Occupation 


Number of 
Individuals 


Percentage Choosing Vocation 


Before 
Entering 


During 
Course 


After 
Graduation 


Before Enter- 
ing and After 
Graduation 


WOMEN 

Teaching 

Business 

Other Occu- 
pations 


96 
16 

24 


51 

37 

42 


25 
13 

- 33 


24 
50 

25 


75 
87 

67 


Totals 


136 


48 


25 


27 


75 


MEN 

Teaching 

Business 

Law 

Medicine 

Engineering -___ 

Ministry 

Other Occu- 
pations 


64 
65 

34 
33 
25 
13 

26 


45 
23 
65 
61 

44 
77 

35 


36 
29 
23 
39 
36 
23 

38 


19 
48 
12 


20 



27 


64 

71 
77 
61 
64 

77 

62 


Totals 


260 


44 


33 


23 


67 



It should be remembered that the 136 women included in this group 
represent a sampling of those who have remained unmarried and are 
engaged in gainful occupations twelve and one-half years after grad- 
uation. About 50 per cent of the women graduates of the class of 
1903 are married, and many of these women were, before marriage 
employed in gainful occupations. It is not possible to say whether or 
not the relative proportions for different times of choosing would be 
affected had we the data necessary for including the women who have 
been withdrawn from paid occupation through marriage. 

Table XXXIV shows that of these 136 women engaged in gainful 
occupations twelve and one-half years after graduation, 48 per cent 
chose their occupations before entering college, 27 per cent chose their 
occupations after graduation, and only 25 per cent during the college 
course. A considerably larger proportion of teachers than of business 
women chose their occupations before entering college. Of the busi- 
ness group 50 per cent decided on their occupations after graduation. 
The other occupational groups are represented by too few individuals 
to be considered separately. 

The table shows that 44 per cent of the 260 men who answered this 
question chose their occupation before entering college. This is about 
the same proportion as found by Keppel. Twenty-three per cent made 



Influence of the College Course 57 

their decision after graduation — a considerably larger proportion than 
Keppel's corresponding group. His group, however, was composed 
of very recent graduates, and, as he suggests, probably does not in- 
clude a large number of those men who had not yet come to a decision. 
Thirty-three per cent chose their vocation during their college course — a 
somewhat smaller proportion than Keppel found. 

Analysis of the table by occupations indicates important variations 
as to time of choosing the vocation. Law, medicine and the ministry 
show the highest percentages of choice before entering college. 
Teaching stands next, but well below the other three. Business shows 
the lowest percentage of choice before entering college. In percent- 
age of decisions after graduation, business holds the highest rank, 
engineering and teaching standing second. The ministers and doc- 
tors had all made their decisions before graduation. About equal 
percentages of the doctors, teachers and engineers chose their vocations 
during their college course, the doctors having a slightly larger percent- 
age than the other two occupations. Business stands next, followed 
by law and the ministry. On the whole, the variations in percent- 
ages among the different occupations are not so striking for the men who 
chose their vocations during their college course as for those who chose 
before entering or after graduation. In no occupation does the per- 
centage choosing during college rise above 39 per cent. 

In general, the facts revealed in this study agree fairly closely with 
the facts reported by Keppel. Both studies show that so far as the time 
of choosing the occupation may be used as a criterion, the college has, 
in these cases at least, exerted no influence upon a very large per- 
centage of its graduates. 

REASONS ASSIGNED BY COI.IvKGE GRADUATES FOR ENTERING 
THEIR INITIAI. OCCUPATIONS 

Taken alone, the time of choosing the occupation does not tell us 
conclusively what part the college has played in the graduate's decision 
as to his life work. The choices made during college may or may not 
have been influenced by the student's college course. In an attempt 
to discover what reasons actually determined the student's choice 
of a career, the following question was included in the question blank 
sent to the members of the class of 1903 of eleven colleges: 

"Upon graduation from college what determined your first occupation? In- 
dicate by checking or by adding to the appended list: 
Chance to earn for further study. 
Vocation of my choice. 
Best thing that offered. 
Experimenting — had made no choice." 



58 



College Achievement and Vocationa Efficiency 



Replies to the question were received from 251 men and 140 women. 
Their answers are summarized in Table XXXV. 

TABLE XXXV 
Reasons Assigned for Entering Initial Occupation 





Number 
of Cases 


Percentage of Times 


Given Reasons Were 


Assigned 


Initial 
Occupation 


I 

Chance to 

Earn for 

Study 


II 

Vocation 

of 

Choice 


III 

Best Thing 

that 

Offered 


IV 

Experiment- 
ing. No 
Choice 


V 

Influence 
of Parents 
or Friends 


WOMEN 

Teaching 

Other Occupations--- 


113 

27 


1 




61 

70 


20 
17 


7 
2 


7 
11 


Totals 


140 


1 


65 


20 


6 


8 


MEN 

Teaching 

Business 

Law - __ - 


68 
68 
28 
28 
19 
13 
27 


15 
11 


59 
18 
93 
100 
74 
92 
63 


17 

57 
7 


9 
12 




3 


Medicine _ _ ._ 








Engineering 




26 






Ministry- ... 






8 


Other Occupations _._ 


6 


19 


9 


4 


Totals 


251 


8 


59 


25 


7 


2 



In reading Table XXXV for women it should be recalled that this 
group represents only about one half of those whose initial occupation 
was teaching. The other half, having married, were not included in 
this study which deals only with paid occupations. For the women 
who were in gainful occupations at the end of twelve and a half years* 
the table shows that a little less than 1 per cent entered their first 
occupation as a chance to earn for further study. "Choice" was as- 
signed in 65 per cent of the cases; "best thing that offered" or "ex- 
perimenting — had made no choice," in 26 per cent of the cases; "in- 
fluence of parents or friends" in 8 per cent of the cases. Teaching 
is the only specific occupational group whose size is large enough to 
offer a suggestion as to the trend of factors influencing choice. The 
reasons assigned to the various factors by the teaching group do not 
vary markedly from those assigned by the group as a whole. 

Examination of the table for men shows that 8 per cent went into 
their first occupation as a means of earning for further study; 59 per 
cent gave "choice" as the reason for entering their initial occupation, 
25 per cent took the best thing that offered, 7 per cent were experi- 
menting, 2 per cent were determined in their selection by the influence 
of parents or friends. 



Influence of the College Course 59 

Analysis of the table on the basis of initial occupation reveals some 
interesting variations. "Chance to earn for further study" v^as as- 
signed by 15 per cent of the men who entered teaching, and by 1 1 per cent 
of the men who entered business as their first occupation. "Choice" 
was assigned by 59 per cent of the men whose initial occupation was 
teaching, by only 18 per cent of the men whose initial occupation was 
business, by more than 90 per cent of the men whose initial occupation 
was lav^-, medicine or the ministry, and by 74 per cent of those whose 
initial occupation was engineering. *'Best thing that offered" and 
"Experimenting — had made no choice," taken together were assigned 
by 26 per cent of the men with teaching as an initial occupation, by 
69 per cent of those with business as an initial occupation, by 7 per cent 
of those who entered law, and by 26 per cent of those who entered 
engineering as their first occupation. "Influence of parents or friends" 
was not included in the checking list of reasons printed in the ques- 
tionnaire. This reason was specified, however, by a few of the men 
with business or the ministry as an initial occupation. This reason 
doubtless played a part in the decisions of some of those who kept 
strictly to the checking list. 

Variations in the percentages for law, medicine, and the ministry 
are not large in amount, and since the percentages are based on small 
numbers of cases for these occupations, the variations may be without 
significance. Considering all occupations comparatively, however, 
there is a marked tendency for "choice" to predominate as a reason 
for entering, as the initial occupation, vocations which require extended 
preparation beyond graduation, such as medicine, law, the ministry, 
and to a lesser degree, engineering. This result is, of course, to be 
expected. Teaching and business, the latter in particular, show much 
larger percentages drifting into "the best thing that offered," or "ex- 
perimenting," having made no choice. This tendency of college grad- 
uates to drift into teaching and business because they have made no 
real decisions as to their life work at the time of graduation, is familiar 
to college officials who have been concerned with the vocational place- 
ment of students about to graduate. 

Of the reasons for entering the initial occupations here listed, the 
college could, at best, claim credit only for "Choice" and possibly 
for "Chance to earn for further study," which implies a deferred but 
chosen vocational goal. Elimination of these two reasons leaves a 
little more than one-third of the cases for both men and women deter- 
mined by chance opportunity, pure drifting, experimentation in the 
absence of choice, or in a few cases, influence of parents or friends 



60 College Achievement and Vocational Efficiency 

But the case for college influence is not so good as these proportions 
might indicate. In the first place there is no assurance that the college 
can take credit for any large proportion of these "choices." This 
fact is clear from Keppel's study, which showed that of the men who 
decided on a life career during college, or who changed their plans for 
a lii:e career during college, the great majority either did not mention 
the college or actually stated that their college career had nothing to 
do with their decisions. 

The present study only indirectly throws further light on this spe- 
cific question. Here and there a graduate explains more definitely 
why he chose a given occupation or why he changed his original deci- 
sion during his college course.^ Sometimes inference as to the reason 
for the choice or change is fairly safe from the answers to several ques- 
tions taken together. There is too little uniformity in these chance 
comments to give them statistical worth, but as one reads of the deci- 
sion during college to give up a tentative choice of law for business be- 
cause, "I needed to get money quickly to get married," and coupled 
with this, "Went into business on graduation with a friend made in 
college"; or in connection with choice of business during college a state- 
ment that, "My father owns the business and wanted my .brother or 
me to continue same when he no longer could," etc., one gradually gets 
a cumulative impression that a fair proportion of the changes or 
choices during college had causes other than the college curriculum. 
Extra-curricular activities evidently played some part in choices and 
changes. Change to social service work in certain cases was rather 
evidently based on student Y. M. C. A. activity. In one case a man 
went into the journalistic field as a result of experience in handling 
the class book during his senior year. 

Only two men specifically mention the influence of teachers as a 
reason for choosing or changing the vocational plan. One, a chemist, 
says, "The personal popularity of a professor at college was at least a 
strong factor in inducing me to take up chemistry. Hence I went to 
Tech for further study." The other, a teacher, states that his change 
of vocational decision from law to teaching during his senior year was 
in part due to the influence of the college president and two college 
teachers. In the majority of cases there is no certain means of know- 
ing from the statements made whether or not, or how much, the 
choice or change was influenced by the college career. 

^ In reply to the question, "Was this chosen vocation your present one? If 
not, what was it?" 



Influence of the College Course 61 

Another observation seems to limit further the scope of influence 
which we might reasonably ascribe to the college administration for 
the vocational decisions of those who list "choice" as the reason for 
entering the initial vocation. Study of the table showing the occupa- 
tional distribution of different times of choosing occupation (page 
56), indicates that those occupations which furnish the largest per- 
centages of individuals offering "choice" as the reason for their initial 
occupation, namely, law, medicine and the ministry, are just the occu- 
pations which furnish the largest percentages of men who chose their 
careers before entering college. 

Again, it is questionable whether we should credit the college with 
any large share in the vocational goals of the men who entered their 
first occupation as a chance to earn for further study and who therefore 
presumably had a vocational goal. Their initial occupations were usual- 
ly teaching or business. In a later section it will be shown that most 
of these men eventually went into law, medicine, the ministry or 
engineering — again representing fields in which a large proportion of 
the men had chosen their careers before entering college. 

The results of this study of the reasons which influenced the initial 
occupations of the class of 1903 in eleven colleges support Keppel's 
conclusions that the college is not meeting its responsibility and op- 
portunity in guiding the students in making one of the most important 
decisions of life. 

FREQUENCY OF CHANGE IN THE OCCUPATIONS OF COIvLEGE 

GRADUATES 

It was shown in the last section that 40 per cent of the college men 
and 35 per cent of the college women considered in this study entered 
upon their initial occupations for reasons other than "choice." If in 
addition to this fact one reflects that "choice" may mean anything 
from a reasoned decision based upon known facts as to one's own abil- 
ities and the demands and opportunities of a given life career, to such 
vague leanings as, "Had for many years wished to be a nurse," "Decid- 
ed when a small child to be a teacher," "Had always planned to be a 
teacher," "Father had taught," "Decided to be a teacher the first day 
I went to school,"^ there will be little surprise if it be found that there 
is a considerable percentage of college graduates who do not remain in 
the initial occupation which they enter upon graduation. Just how 

^ Sample quotations from questionnaires giving "Choice" as the reason for 
changing initial occupation. 



62 College Achievement and Vocational Efficiency 

much change does occur and how it is distributed among different 
vocations is the subject of this section. 

The data used in investigating the frequency of change in the oc- 
cupations of college graduates were: (1) the initial and finaP oc- 
cupations of the 1092 living academic graduates (men) of the classes 
of 1897 to 1902, inclusive, of Bowdoin College, Colgate and Brown 
Universities, and the 818 graduates (women) of the classes of 1898 to 
1901 of Mt. Holyoke College, and 1898 to 1900 of Smith College; 
(2) the initial and final occupations of those academic graduates of 
the class of 1903 (men and women) in the cooperating colleges listed 
in Chapter III for whom the essential data were available. The oc- 
cupational records for the first group were tabulated from the latest 
alumni catalogues of the colleges studied. The occupational records 
of the second group were tabulated from the questionnaires returned 
by about 60 per cent of the men and women of the class of 1903 in the 
cooperating colleges, supplemented in some cases by the alumni re- 
cords. 

The 1092 men included in the first group had been out of college for 
periods of from 10 to 17 years, an average of 13.5 years, the latest 
bulletins having been issued for Bowdoin in 1912, for Colgate in 1913, 
and for Brown in 1914. The first figures reported are for these 1092 
men. 

The procedure used was as follows: P'rom the alumni catalogues 
the initial or first occupation entered after graduation was recorded 
for each man. In a parallel column the final occupation of each of 
these individuals was entered. The individuals were tabulated in 
groups according to initial occupation, all those whose initial occupa- 
tion was business being tabulated in one group, those whose initial oc- 
cupation was teaching in another group, and so on. Later these same 
individuals were retabulated according to final occupations. From 
these two sets of tabulations the percentages of constancy and change 
in occupation were calculated. In Table XXXVI, which presents 
these percentages, only those occupational groups are recorded which 
include 90 or more cases. There are five such groups: teaching, busi- 
ness, law, medicine, and the ministry. Table XXXVI also shows 
the percentage of men engaged in each of these occupations at the end 
of the 10-17 year period who had begun their vocational careers in 
a different occupation. 

Summarizing the facts of Table XXXVI, it will be seen that for the 
men included in this study, teaching easily leads all other fields as an 

^ Throughout this chapter "final" will be used to designate the occupation 
recorded as "present occupation" in the latest obtainable record. 



Influence of the College Course 



63 



TABLE XXXVI 

Distribution of College Men According to Initial and Final Occupation 

(10-17 YEARS AFTER GRADUATION). PER CENT OF CONSTANCY, CHANGE 

AND Gain from Other Occupations, Vocationally Distributed 





No. in Occupation 


Per Cent with 
Same Initial 
and Final 
Occupation 


Per Cent with 
Different Init- 
ial and Final 
Occupation 


Per Cent of 
Final Group 


Occupation 


Initial 


Final 


Recruited from 
Other Occupa- 
tions 


Teaching 

Business 

Law 

Medicine 

Ministry 


343 

283 

156 

98 

93 


224 
304 
205 
113 
91 


60.6 

87.3 
96.8 
96.9 
91.4 


39.4 

12.7 

3.2 

3.1 

8.6 


7.7 
18 7 
26 3 
13.3 

6.6 


Totals 


973 


937 


80.7 


19.3 


16. 1 



entering occupation. It is at the same time a temporary occupation 
for college graduates to a higher degree than any other, since nearly 
40 per cent of the men who enter it upon graduation leave it for other 
work within a 10-17 year period. Forty-four per cent of these men 
who left teaching used the profession as a stepping-stone to other pro- 
fessions, while about 32 per cent went into business. Teaching not 
only loses a large percentage of its entrants, but it has small drawing 
power for men who begin in other occupations. Only about 8 per cent 
of the men who are teachers at the end of the 10-17 year period were 
recruited from other occupations, and of these about 60 per cent began 
in business. Nevertheless, despite the large percentage of loss and the 
small percentage of gain, teaching takes second place as an occupation 
for this group of college men at the end of the 10-17 year period. 

Whether, and how much, teaching as a profession suffers from the 
presence of such a large number of vocational transients, is a question 
worthy of consideration. It could only be answered by a study of the 
comparative teaching success of those who entered the vocation as a 
temporary occupation and those who expect to make it a life work. 
The latter group is far from homogeneous. It includes men of little 
initiative, who simply followed the line of least resistance into the oc- 
cupation whose doors open most readily to the college graduate, men 
who have tried unsuccessfully business or some other field, as well as 
gifted men whose interest in teaching was strong enough to offset the 
temptation to larger monetary rewards offered by other fields. Until 
teaching as a profession can be made more attractive financially to able 
men, it may be that as a nation we shall profit by having gifted college 
graduates give two, three or four years of service en route to their final 
vocations. Some of these men for one reason or another will turn aside 



64 College Achievement and Vocational Efficiency 

from their original goals and remain teachers, to the very great gain of 
the profession. 

Business stands second as an initial occupation for this group of 
college men. It lost 12 per cent of the initial entrants, a higher per- 
centage than that sustained by any other occupation except teaching, 
whose percentage of loss is three times as great. Nearly one-half of 
the men who dropped out of business became lawyers. Rather more 
than half of them became teachers. But the relatively high percentage 
of loss of its initial entrants which business sustained is more than 
counterbalanced by its gains from other fields. Of the men whose final 
occupation is business, eighteen and three-fourths per cent began their 
careers in other occupations. This surplus of gains over losses is suffi- 
cient to place business in the first rank as a final occupation for col- 
lege men. 

Law, medicine, and the ministry stand numerically third, fourth, and 
fifth in the order named, in both the initial and the final groupings. 
Law, while showing a very small percentage of loss, 3.2 per cent, from 
its initial group, has taken in the final group, first place in the percentage 
recruited from other occupations, having gained 26 per cent of its 
numbers, mainly from teaching and business. Medicine shows about 
the same small percentage of loss from its initial group, 3.1 per cent, 
and also shows a high percentage of gain from other occupations, 13.2 
per cent, mainly from teaching and business. The ministry is not only 
lowest numerically in the list of occupations for college graduates, but 
its drawing power as a final occupation is even lower than that of teach- 
ing — 6.6 per cent. At the same time, it stands third in rate of loss 
of its initial entrants. 

The second table for men (Table XXXVII) was based upon data as 
to initial and final occupations drawn from the questionnaires returned 
by men of the class of 1903 in Bowdoin College, Brown University, 
Dartmouth College, Johns Hopkins University, the University of Illinois, 
the University of Missouri and Oberlin College. The treatment of data 
was the same as that used for the group reported in Table XXXVI. 

The relative order of professional groups, as indicated inTable XXXVII, 
shows no marked differences from that shown in Table XXXVI, which 
presents the same facts for a different group of college men, except that 
the ministry is displaced by engineering for fifth place in the list. Busi- 
ness shares with teaching the first place as an initial occupation, however, 
instead of taking second place, and medicine shares third place with 
law. These latter differences may be due to the fact that Table XXX- 
VII was tabulated from the records of those men who replied to the 



Influence of the College Course 



65 



TABLE XXXVII 

Distribution of College Men Replying to Questionnaire, According to Initial 

AND Final Occupation (12| Years after Graduation). Per Cent of 

Constancy, Change and Gain from Other Occupations 

Vocationally Distributed 



Occupation 


No. in 
Occupation 


Per Cent with 
Same Initial 
and Final 
Occupation 


Per Cent with 
Different 
Initial, and 
Final 
Occupation 


Percent of 
Final Group 
Recruited from 




Initial 


Final 


Other Occu- 
pations 


Teaching- 


69 

69 

28 
28 
20 
13 
30 


65 
68 
36 
31 
20 
13 
24 


81.1 
79.7 
92.9 

100 
95 

100 
83.3 


18.9 
20.3 

7.1 



5 


16.7 


13.8 


Business . _ 


19.1 


Law 


27.7 


Medicine 


9.7 


Kngineering __ 


5 


Ministry _ 





Other Occupations ^ 


16.6 


Totals 


257 


84.4 


15.6 


15.6 



1 Journalism (8), chemistry (5), research (4), forestry (4), social service and religious work (2),farming(.2), 
librarian (2), government service (2), architecture (1). 

2 It should be noted that this is the final distribution of those replying to the questionnaire. The final 
distribution of the entire group is given in Chapter III, Table XV. 

questionnaire, while Table XXXVI was based upon the alumni cata- 
logue records of all men in the classes studied. Reference to Table 
XV, Chapter III, will recall the fact that different vocations furnished 
different percentages of replies to the occupational questionnaire as 
follows: Teaching 76.5 per cent, business 46.4 per cent, law 54.7 per 
cent, medicine 59.3 per cent, engineering 65.4 per cent, ministry 61.9 
per cent. If in connection with these percentages of replies we take the 
percentages of change among those who did reply and the totals of the 
final occupational groups as given in Table XV, Chapter III, the ques- 
tion is left indeterminate as to whether there are marked differences 
between business and teaching as initial occupations, since each has a 
high percentage of change. 

Since, however, law and medicine show relatively small percentages of 
change, and since law shows larger absolute numbers in the final group 
than does medicine (66 as against 54), it is fairly safe to infer that in 
this group of college men, as in the first group studied, law would take 
third place as an initial occupation. Reference to the same data for 
the ministry and engineering lead to the inference that for this group of 
college men, engineering would retain its lead over the ministry if the 
facts as to initial occupations were available for all the men of the class 
of 1903 in the cooperating colleges. 

This table shows the same relative positions for the different voca- 



66 College Achievement and Vocational Efficiency 

tions as final occupations for college men as did Table XXXVI, with 
the exception that engineering has displaced the ministry for fifth place 
just as it did in the initial occupational distribution. The absolute 
numbers in these vocations at the end of twelve years (Table XV) are 
as follows: Business 149; teaching 83; law 66; medicine 54; engineer- 
ing 39; ministry 21. 

As to the relative amounts of change in different occupational groups 
as indicated in Table XXXVII, the order is as follows: Business 20.3 
per cent; teaching 18.9 per cent; law 7.1 per cent; engineering 5 per cent; 
medicine and the ministry per cent. The only difference between 
Table XXXVI and Table XXXVII as to relative positions in per cent 
of change, is the reversal of teaching and business for first place. 
Whether or not this difference is due to the differences in percentages 
replying in these two occupations, we have no way of discovering. 

In order of percentages recruited from other occupations, few differ- 
ences are noted between Table XXXVII and Table XXXVI. In both 
tables law stands easily first, and business second in drawing power. In 
Table XXXVII teaching and medicine reverse the places held in Table 
XXXVI, teaching here taking third instead of fourth place in drawing 
power. In both tables the ministry stands at the end of the list in 
this respect. 

This measurement of change in the occupations of two groups of 
college graduates yields results for the two groups which are in essential 
agreement. While the actual percentages of loss and of gain in different 
occupations do not agree closely for the two groups in every case, the 
relative ranks of the occupations (1) as initial occupations for college 
graduates, (2) as final occupations, (3) as to amount of change from 
initial to final occupations, and (4) as to gains from other occupations, 
remain practically the same. 

The study of frequency of change in occupation for college women 
covers two groups of graduates. The first includes the 818 living grad- 
uates of the classes of 1898 to 1901, inclusive, of Mt. Holyoke College 
and the classes of 1898 to 1900, inclusive, of Smith College. The data 
for this group were tabulated from the latest alumni catalogs — 1910 for 
Smith and 1911 for Mt. Holyoke. The final record, therefore, covers 
a period of from 10-13 years from the time of graduation. The second 
group comprises the women of the class of 1903 in the cooperating col- 
leges. Table XXXVIII gives the essential facts for the first group of 
818 women. 



Influence of the College Course 



67 



TABLE XXXVIII 
Distribution of College Women According to Initial and Final Occupation 

(10-13 YEARS AFTER GRADUATION). PER CENT OF CONSTANCY, CHANGE 

AND Gain from Other Occupations, Vocationally Distributed 



Occupation 


No. in Occupa- 
tion 


Per Cent 
with Same 
Initial and 
Final Oc- 
cupation 


Per Cent of Change to 


Total 
Change 


Per Cent 
Recruited 






Other 
Gainful 
Occupa- 
tions 


Mar- 
riage 


No 

Rec. 

Occ. 


from other 




Initial 


Final 


Occupa- 
tions 


Teaching 

Business 

Soc. and Relig. ___ 

Librarian 

Other Gainful 
Occupations 


448 
17 
14 
18 

26 


209 
18 
14 
11 

23 


45.8 

47 

35.7 

44.4 

61.5 


5.4 
11.8 
14.3 

5.6 

15.4 


39 

35.3 
42.9 
44.4 

23.1 


9.3 
5.9 

7.1 
5.6 




54.2 
53 

64.3 
55.6 

38.5 


1.9 

55.5 
64.3 
36.3 

21.7 


Total Gainful 
Occupations 


523 


275 


48 


6 


38 


8 


52 


12 


Marriage 


188 


389 


48 










52 














No Recorded 
Occupation 


107 


152 



























Analysis of Table XXXVIII shows that 523 or a little more than 64 
per cent of these women entered some gainful occupation after gradua- 
tion; 188 or about 23 per cent married without engaging in any gainful 
occupation; 107 or about 13 per cent had neither married nor engaged 
in gainful occupation at the end of the 10-13 year period. Of the gain- 
ful occupations teaching is by far the largest group, including 448 wo- 
men or nearly 86 per cent of all those engaged in gainful occupations. 

Of the 523 women who entered gainful occupatilns after graduation, 
48 per cent were engaged in the same occupation and 52 per cent had 
changed at the end of the 10-13 year period. Of the 52 per cent who 
had changed, 38 per cent had married, 8 per cent had no recorded oc- 
cupation, and 6 per cent were engaged in other gainful occupations. If 
we use as a base the 322 women who were not married during the period 
studied, the change to other gainful occupations is 10 per cent. As 
to variations among different occupations with reference to amount 
of change, there is nothing worthy of note. Teaching is the only 
occupational group large enough to offer significant percentages and 
these percentages differ little if any from the percentages for the 
entire group. 



68 



College Achievement and Vocational Efficiency 



At the end of the 10-13 year period 389, or about 48 per cent, of these 
women were married, 152, or about 18 per cent, were neither married nor 
engaged in gainful occupations, and 277 (including 2 students who 
presumably would return to gainful occupation), or about 34 per cent, 
were engaged in paid occupations. Of this working group 209 or 76 
per cent were teaching. Of these, 98 per cent had begun as teachers and 
2 per cent had been recruited from other occupations. The percentages 
for other occupational groups are based upon so much smaller numbers 
of cases that they have little value as bases of comparison. Taken at 
their face value, however, they indicate that teaching loses less to other 
occupations and gains less than does any other occupation. 

Table XXXIX presents for the second group studied the facts as to 
initial and final occupations, constancy and change in occupation. The 
data were tabulated from the occupational questionnaires returned by 
the women of the class of 1903 of Barnard, Mt. Holyoke, Goucher, and 
Oberlin Colleges, the University of Illinois and the University of Mis- 
souri. 

TABLE XXXIX 

Distribution of College Women (Members of the Class of 1903 for Whom the 
Necessary Data were Available), According to Initial and Final Occu- 
pations. Per Cent of Constancy, Change and Gain From Other 
Occupations 





No. in Occu- 
pation 


Per Cent with 
Same Initial 
and Final Occu- 
pation 


Per Cent of Change 


Per Cent 
Recruited from 
other Occu- 
pations 




other 
Gain- 
ful 
Occ. 


Mar- 
riage 


Total 
Change 


Occupation 


Initial 


Final 


Teaching 


223 


99 


42 


10 


48 


58 


5 






Other Gainful 
Occupations 


39 


42 


48 


18 


33 


52 


57 


Total Gainful 
Occupations 


262 


141 


43 


11 


46 


57 


20 


Married 


64 


184 


34 








66 












No Recorded 
Occupations 


44 


59 













Influence of the College Course 69 

Table XXXIX shows the same general characteristics for this group 
of women as were revealed by the study of the first group. About 70 
per cent entered some gainful occupation upon graduation, 85 per cent 
of this number becoming teachers. A little more than 17 per cent 
married, without entering gainful occupations and 12 per cent had 
neither married nor engaged in gainful occupations after graduation. 

At the end of the period studied, 48 per cent were married, a little 
less than 37 per cent were engaged in paid occupations (about 71 per 
cent of these were teachers) and about 15 per cent were neither mar- 
ried nor engaged in paid occupations. Of the initial group 57 percent 
changed their occupations, 46 per cent for marriage and 1 1 per cent for 
other gainful occupations. Teaching is by far the largest of the voca- 
tional groups both as an initial and as a final occupation. Its loss to 
other occupations is about twice its gain from other occupational fields. 

This study of change in the occupations of college graduates, men 
and women, takes account only of initial and final occupations. A 
complete record would take account of all changes between graduation 
and the date of investigation. It was not possible to base the measure- 
ment upon such a record because of the incompleteness of the avail- 
able data. Where complete records for individual groups are avail- 
able they suggest that the amount of occupational turnover is far greater 
than our figures show. Not infrequently there are one, two, and 
occasionally three or more changes intervening between the initial and 
final occupations. The measurement we have used, records for the 
individual one change only. In other cases experimentation has oc- 
curred which is not registered at all in our tabulations, because the in- 
dividual's groping for vocational equilibrium finally led back to the 
initial occupation. The following instances will illustrate this group of 
cases: (1) Business one year, teacher seven years, business; (2) teacher 
one year, business two years, teacher; (3) teacher two years, farmer 
four years, teacher; (4) business one year, law five years, business. 

It would be a difficult task to measure the extent to which these 
changes in occupation have affected or will affect the success of the 
individuals concerned. Undoubtedly the individuals who have not 
changed their occupations do not represent a homogeneous group, 
Some of them entered the occupation because of reasoned choice, 
some drifted in, found the work congenial and stayed, some drifted in 
because of chance circumstances and had not push enough to get out 
when they found the occupation imsuited to them or were financially 
unable to start in a new field. The group which has changed is not 
more homogenous. Changes are few or many, have taken place all 



70 



College Achievement and Vocational Efficiency 



the way from one year to twelve years after graduation, and represent 
all degrees of relationship and lack of relationship to the preceding oc- 
cupations. It is probably safe to assume that so much vocational 
drifting must represent an unwarranted waste of human energy and 
social effectiveness. 



REASONS FOR CHANGE IN THE OCCUPATIONS OF COLI^EGE GRADUATES 

As a basis for determining the reasons for change in the occupations 
of college graduates, the following question was included in the occupa- 
tional questionnaire sent to the graduates of the class of 1903: 

"If your present occupation is different from your initial occupation, indicate 
by checking or by adding to the appended list the reasons for the change: 



Better salary 

Vocation of earHer choice 



More congenial occupation 
Better adapted to my abilities 



TABI^E XL 
Frequency of Reasons for Leaving Initial Occupation 



Reasons Assigned for Change 
from Initial Occupation 


Teach- 
ing 


Busi- 
ness 


Law 


Medi- 
cine 


Engin- 
eering 


Minis- 
try 


Other 
Occu- 
pations 


Total 
Fre- 
quency 


MEN 

Better Salary 


5 
6 

4 

5 

1 


3 
7 
8 
3 


2 




1 





7 


18 


Vocation of Earlier 
Choice _ _ 


13 


More Congenial 
y% Occupation- 










4 
1 


16 


Better Adapted to 
Abilities __ . _ 










9 


Chance _ 










1 


Better Opportunity 


1 












1 


















Total 


21 


22 


2 




1 




12 


58 






WOMEN 

Better Salary 


2 

1 

11 

8 
11 












3 

1 

2 

2 
3 


5 


Vocation of Earlier 
Choice -_ 












1 


More Congenial 

Occupation _____ 












13 


Better Adapted to 
"''Abilities _ 












10 


Other Reasons_ _ 












14 
















Totals _ 


33 












11 


43 

















Influence of the College Course 71 

In answer to this question some individuals checked one reason while 
some checked two or more reasons for their change in occupation. In 
order to simplify the following tables which summarize the tabulation 
of these answers, each vote is counted as one whether it was combined 
with other reasons or not. Table XL is based on a classification 
according to initial occupations of the individuals responding and 
shows the reasons which led these graduates to leave certain occupations. 

The reasons which operated most frequently to induce change in 
occupation are, for men: better financial returns, more congenial oc- 
cupation, entrance upon vocation of earlier choice and occupation bet- 
ter adapted to the individual's abilities, in the order named. Analysis by 
occupations shows that those who left teaching were influenced by 
these factors in almost equal amounts. Those leaving teaching who 
were influenced largely by the financial factor are distributed as to 
final occupation among the various professions and business. Most 
of those whose change was determined by earlier choice left teaching 
for law or medicine. Those who sought more congenial work or work 
better adapted to their abilities are scattered among different occupa- 
tions. Those who left business did so chiefly for vocations of earlier 
choice and for more congenial occupation. Financial considerations 
played a lesser part, and were usually only one of several reasons as- 
signed. Those who left business for vocations of earlier choice went 
mainly into law or medicine. About half of those who were seeking 
more congenial occupations went into teaching, the remainder being 
scattered among different occupations. 

The chief reasons responsible for change in occupation among women 
graduates are the desire for more congenial work or for an occupa- 
tion better adapted to the individual's abilities. Need to be at home 
is another large factor in the case of women and constitutes a major 
part of the causes of change listed under "other reasons." "Vocation 
of earlier choice" seems a negligible factor in producing change in 
women's occupations. This is consistent with the fact shown in Table 
XXXV, page 58, that few women entered their initial occupation as 
a chance to earn for further study. 

The number of cases upon which this study of reasons for change 
in occupation is based is too small to merit its presentation except for 
consideration in connection with the study of reasons for choice and 
the measurement of change. No conclusions will be drawn from it 
except in connection with these studies. 



CHAPTER VI 

OTHER FACTORS HAVING A POSSIBLE BEARING UPON 
SUCCESS IN COLLEGE AND SUCCESS IN VOCATION 

The fact that a student is self-supporting wholly or in part during 
his college course may have some bearing upon his record both in 
scholarship and in the extra-curricular life of the school. It may also 
indicate qualities which have a measurable relation to vocational suc- 
cess. The amount and kind of professional training after graduation 
may be related in a measurable degree to later vocational achievement. 
Early marriage and children may have something to do with success, 
either as a spur to greater effort, or as a hindrance to further study. 

Data with respect to these matters were secured on the occupational 
questionnaire for men, and on self-support and study after graduation 
for women. It was found impossible, however, to isolate the separate 
factors to be studied and retain groups large enough to justify any 
sort of suggestion as to trends in relation to vocational efficiency, for 
in this matter as well as in the other problems considered in this study 
inspection of the tabulations showed the necessity of distributing the 
data according to occupations. The attempt to measure such relation- 
ships, even crudely, was therefore abandoned. However, certain facts 
of interest are brought out by the tabulations and some of these facts 
will be presented briefly in this chapter. 

SElvF-SUPPORT IN college; 

The data for determining the amount and kind of self-support in 
college were obtained in reply to the following questions included in the 
occupational questionnaire. 

If wholly or partially self-supporting during your college course, what was the 
gross amount earned during the four years? 

Whp.t part of this was earned while college was in session (i. e., exclusive of 
summer vacations)? 

How was it earned? 

Table XLI summarizes the replies of 203 men and 117 women now 
engaged in paid occupations. It shows that of the 203 men reporting 
two- thirds were wholly or partly self-supporting, earning a median amount 

72 



Other Factors 



73 



TABLE XLI 
SeivF-SuppoRT OF College; Students Distributed on the Basis of Occupations 

\2\ Years After Graduation 







bO 
C 


>^ 


Approximate Amounts 
Earned During Course 


Kind of Work 




«3 
























M 


t 


rt 


a 










■4-> 


rt 










Occupation 




H. 














s 




3 










u 

a 


3 


sa 


o 

H 


OS 






> 


6 


T3 




"O 3 


n 






^ 


aj 


>.it 


C 


0\ 




6^ 


O 


S"^ 




T! 


— O 


-- . o 


CO 






m 


^^ 


g 


€^ 


1 


1 


o 




^ 


(U 


^z: 




O 






-i-> 








o 


o 




"o 5 


CO 


-^ 


7) O 


rs i' 


*'!/i 






o 


•='71 


B 


O 


o 


o 


o 


<^ CS 


C 




C *; 








H 


^ 


^w 


«3l 






<^ 


SW 


'iJ 


W 


-^ 3 


-7^^ 


oa 


men 






























Teaching __ __ _ 


60 
54 


11 

28 


49 
26 


6 

5 


8 
3 


8 
3 


9 

7 


18 

8 


$700 
$800 


34 

?3 


4 
4 


6 

4 


26 

9 


13 


Business. _ _ . 


11 


Law _ . . 


31 


16 


15 


? 


5 


? 


3 


3 


$375 


13 


3 




10 


5 


Medicine . 


29 
16 


8 
2 


21 

14 


3 
1 


3 
2 


4 

4 


3 
4 


8 
3 


$950 
$600 


13 

14 


2 


1 


10 
11 


13 


Engineering 


7 


Ministry. _ _ 


13 


2 


11 


1 


1 


1 


2 


6 


$1100 


5 


2 


--- 


/ 


3 






Total 


203 


67 


136 


18 


22 


22 


28 


46 


$700 


102 


15 


13 


73 


52 


i 
women 






























Teaching 


92 


73 


19 


5 


8 


3 


3 




$300 


10 


/I 


7 


16 


1 


Business 


8 


5 


3 








2 


1 


$900 


-t 








1 


Social and Religious 








1 


' 




Work-- 


10 

7 


8 
7 


2 


1 


- — 


- — 


1 


--- 




— - 


-"- 


1 


1 


1 


Librarians 






























Total 


117 


93 


24 


6 


8 


3 


6 


1 




14 


4 


S 


17 


3 



of approximately $700. There are marked differences among the different 
vocations as to the proportions of men who were partially or wholly 
self-supporting during college. Teaching and the ministry lead the list 
with 82 per cent and 85 per cent respectively. The small number of 
ministers reporting makes the exact percentage for this group some- 
what unreliable. Medicine with 72 per cent comes next, then engineer- 
ing with 69 per cent. Somewhat less than half of the business men and 
lawyers were self-supporting. If we contrast business with its high 
percentage of non-self-supporting men and its low scholastic distri- 
bution, with teaching which has a low percentage of non-self-support 
and high scholastic range, there is a suggestion that probably the matter 
of self-support does not play so large a part in scholarship as do some 
other factors 



74 College Achievement and Vocational Efficiency 

Of the 117 women reporting, only 20 per cent were partially or wholly 
self-supporting. The median amount earned was approximately $300. 
The groups other than teaching are represented by too few cases to 
serve as the basis of comparisons. 

The kinds of work were classified somewhat arbitrarily imder the 
heads: unskilled manual, skilled manual, unskilled intellectual, skilled 
intellectual, and business. The most frequent type by far is unskilled 
manual. A better idea of the ways in which these students earned 
their way can be gained by a more detailed analysis of the methods of 
earning. It should be noted that the same student frequently reported 
different types of work. 

Unskilled manual (men) included: waiter and kitchen work, janitor, 
caretaker about house and lawn, night watchman, farm labor, caring for 
sick, sawing wood, driving milk wagon, coachman, stable work, bell 
boy, brickyard work, miscellaneous jobs. Skilled manual: print shop 
work, painting, barber shop, tailor shop, athletic coach, brakeman, 
reading gas meters, shoemaker, machine shop, photographic work, 
gymnasium assistant, jewelry shop. Skilled intellectual: teaching and 
tutoring, library work, clerical, surveying, editorial work, orchestra, choir, 
teaching music, pharmacist, laboratory assistant, bookkeeper, report- 
er, engineering, surveying, weather bureau, preaching, chaplain, editor of 
college paper. Business: clerk, canvassing, bill collecting, bank clerk, 
college supply store, salesman, running a boarding house, club steward, 
collecting rents, book agent, life insurance, handling ads., laundry agency, 
store delivery, managing the college paper. 

The women who earned by unskilled manual labor served as mothers' 
helpers, maids, waiters; cared for sick; served at teas; did cooking, 
sewing, laimdering, cleaning, kitchen work; waited on table; did mis- 
cellaneous jobs; and one was an artist's model. Skilled manual for 
women included: remodeling hats, typewriting and massage. Some of 
the activities listed under unskilled manual may easily belong under 
skilled manual. It is difficult to draw the line in many cases. Unskilled 
intellectual occupations included: library work, sorting papers, reading 
to people, clerical work. Skilled intellectual for women included: tutoring 
and other teaching, laboratory assistant, playground work. Business in- 
cluded : magazine subscriptions, catering, clerk in store. 

SPECIAL STUDY OR TRAINING AFTER GRADUATION 

To what extent is the education offered by the liberal arts college 
supplemented by later training for the vocations its graduates enter? 
What and how long is this training and to what extent does its amount 



Other Factors 



75 



differ for different occupations ? In attempting to answer these questions, 
the following queries were included in the occupational questionnaire: 

What special study or training for your vocation have you had since graduation 
from college? 

In the following table, indicate the amount and the dates of such training. 
All of time for years. 

One half time for years. 

One quarter time for years. 

TABLE XLII 

Number op Years of Special Study for Vocation After Graduation 

From College 





Years and Part Years of Graduate Stu 


dy 




Occupation 


None 


Unknown 


to 


3 

to 

li 


to 
2i 


2i 
to 

3i 


3i 
to 

6 


4f 
to 

5i 
3 


5^ 
to 
6 

2 


Over 
6 


Med- 
ian 


Number 
Reporting 


MEN 

Teaching^ 


10 

39 

4 


5---- 


8 
1 


15 
2 
2 

3 


12 

4 
3 

2 


10 





3 
5 

3 


66 


Business 


51 


Law _ _ _ _ 


21 
2 
1 


4 


9 


7 


4 


34 


Medicine 


3 
2 


1 
1 
3 


26 


Engineering _ 


8 


17 


Ministry 


6 


-- 


2 





11 
















Totals 


61 


10 


14 


22 


21 


34 


16 


12 


11 


4 


U 


205 


WOMEN 

Teaching 


15 
4 

1 


1 
2 


23 

2 
5 


27 
3 


14 
2 
2 


8 


2 


1 


-- 





1 


91 


Business 


8 


Social and Religious 


2 












11 


Librarian __ 












4 
























Totals 


20 


3 


30 


30 


18 


10 


2 


1 








1 


114 



lUnlike preparation for law and medicine, this graduate study does not necessarily or usually precede 
the entrance upon professional work. 



Some of the replies were difficult to tabulate because ot the irregular- 
ity of the training. For example, one man, a lawyer, checked all of the 
time for four years and one quarter of the time lor five years. Opposite 
the first statement he records, "college, worked my way," and opposite 
the second, "studying law and working." His first occupational record 
is, "Physical director 1903-10." Another records, "Two fifty-minute 
periods (4.50-6.30 p.m.) six days a week for three full scholastic years." 
For teachers, summer sessions or summers abroad are not infrequently 



76 College Achievement and Vocational Efficiency 

reported. These irregular records have been equated as well as possi- 
ble in terms of years and parts of years. Table XLII summarizes 
the reports which were received. "Home reading" and "experience" 
have been reported in many cases, but obviously could not be included 
in a tabulation based on amounts of time given to special training. In 
the case of medicine, hospital work was included under training, while 
for law, experience in a law office was not so counted. This distinction 
is somewhat arbitrary, but is based upon the fact that the young lawyer 
is usually paid for such work, while the young doctor, until very recently, 
received no remuneration. 

The kinds of training reported are as follows: Teachers: university, 
college, or normal school graduate work — part-time, full-time, or 
summers; correspondence study; research; travel (language); private 
lessons: conservatory of music; school of expression; business school. 
One woman teacher had taken nurse's training. Business: law school, 
medical school, engineering school, forestry, university post graduate — 
full-time, part-time, summer schools (one took M.A. in economics); 
correspondence schools; business schools. In most cases "experience" 
or "hard work" is the report given. "Reading — trade papers and 
books," is also frequently reported. The lawyers usually report law 
school, very often followed by office experience of from six months to 
two years. Occasionally the law degree is preceded by a year's study 
for the Master's degree. In one case the L-L-B. was followed by three 
years' study for the Ph.D. The four lawyers who record no graduate 
study, report "experience" or "constant reading and practice." It is 
possible that they misinterpreted the question, and reported with 
reference to training after graduation in law. The same may be true of 
the men who reported less than three years for the study of medicine. 
Several of the physicians report work for the M.A. degree and one for the 
Ph.D. In general they report the medical school plus hospital experi- 
ence of from one to six years. European or other post-graduate medical 
work is reported in a number of cases. The engineers report technical 
school, university graduate study, correspondence and night school 
courses. Beyond that they report home study and practical experience. 
The ministers report work in theological schools mainly. Home reading 
and short courses at the university are also mentioned. The women 
social and religious workers report Y. W. C. A. training schools, lectures 
and correspondence study ; business college ; theological seminary ; college 
and university graduate work ; travel (language) ; music ; and home 
study. The librarians studied in library schools and held apprentice- 
ships in libraries. 



V 



Other Factors 



77 



YEARS BETWEEN GRADUATION AND MARRIAGE 

Table XLIII shows, for the college men in the larger vocational 
groups, the distribution by occupations of (1) the number of years 
between graduation and marriage and (2) the number of children. 

TABLE XLIII 

Years Between Graduation and Marriage of Men in Different 
Occupations. Number of Children 12^ Years After Graduation 







Frequency for E 


ach Occupation 




Time of Marriage 


Teaching 


Business 


Law 


Medicine 


Engineering 


Ministry 


Before Graduation _ 


4 
3 
5 
7 
7 
7 

10 
6 
2 
1 
1 
2 
4 


1 
2 
1 
5 
7 
3 
6 
5 
9 
2 
4 
2 
1 
1 








2 


Year of Graduation 


1 




1 


1 


One Year After _ 






Two Years After- 


1 
4 


1 
1 


1 
3 
3 




Three Years After. .. 
Four Years After 


2 
3 


Five Years After.. _. 


6 

2 
3 
6 
2 
2 
1 
2 


3 
5 
1 
6 




Six Years After . . 


2 




Seven Years After 

Eight Years After.. 


1 


Nine Years After 


3 
2 
1 




Ten Years After 


1 

1 




Eleven Years After _ 




Twelve Years After _ 














Approximate 
Median Years 


4 


5 


7 


6 


5 


3 


Not Married _. 


5 


4 


4 


8 


3 


2 






Number of Children 



14 
10 
16 
14- 
5 


5 
16 

20 

5 

I 
1 


5 
9 
10 
4 
1 


2 
6 
9 
4 


5 
4 
6 

1 




1 


3 


2 


3 


3 


2 


4 

5 




6 - 












7 


1 





1 




--- - - - 


1 


Approximate Median 
Number of Children 


7 


2 


2 


2 


5 


2 



CHAPTER VII 

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS 

The more important results of this survey of the vocational distribu- 
tion and income of college graduates in relation to college marks and 
extra-curricular activity, and of the study of choice and change in the 
occupation of these graduates, are summarized in this chapter, together 
with the conclusions which these results suggest/ 

1 . The relation between college standing and income twelve and one- 
half years after graduation is too slight to warrant the use of marks as 
the chief basis for predicting the kind of success that the average em- 
ployer has in mind when he consults the appointment committee in 
regard to its students or graduates. Marks should, however, be con- 
sidered as one factor in prognosticating vocational success, since the 
coefficients of correlation found were positive. The relative weight to 
be given scholarship in predicting later ""achievement in any given 
occupation can only be determined through further investigation. 

In so far as the individuals concerned in this study were really meas- 
tured in scholarly ability by the tests of the college, the low correlation 
between marks and income probably means that the qualities which 
lead to vocational efficiency, as indexed by the world at large, are only 
in part, in smaller part than we had believed was true, the qualities 
measured by success in the college curriculum. It may well be true, 
however, that another cause of the low correlation is the fact now be- 
ing fairly faced by progressive college teachers and administrators, that 
the college has failed in very large measure to relate its curriculum so 
directly to the student's life interests as to convince him of its worth. 
If able students consider other activities more worthy of effort than 
their studies, their marks will fail to measure anything, so far as these 
students are concerned, except the valuation placed upon the studies. 
To the extent that this cause contributes to the low correlation — and 
the degree to which it contributes can only be a matter 1 of conjec- 
ture — the result is an indictment of^^the vague, unanalyzed "culture" 
aim of the college and of the "general training" methods of instruc- 
tion based upon the old faculty psychology. 

^The results summarized in this chapter differ in reliability, as the writer 
has taken pains to point out in earlier chapters. At this point the reader is 
reminded of this fact, but to avoid verbosity statements in regard to reliability 
are, in the main, omitted from the summary. 

78 



Summary and Conclusions 79 

2. The relation between extra-curricular activity and income is some- 
what closer than that between scholarship and income. This empha- 
sizes the necessity of faculty and administrative recognition of student 
life as a selective agency of even greater importance than the curricu- 
lum so far as the qualities that make for future vocational success are 
concerned. Administrative officers, therefore, should give serious 
attention to the problem of measuring and recording these non-academic 
achievements. Vocational counselors, student advisers generally, and 
appointment committees should make careful study of these records 
in relation to all diagnostic and placement decisions. Undoubtedly 
there are vocational variations as to the prognostic significance of extra- 
curricular activity, both as to kind and amount. This question merits 
further investigation. 

3. The results here reported prove nothing as to the relative contri- 
butions of college studies and of extra-curricular activities to the pro- 
duction of vocational success, nor as to the effects of study or neglect 
of study upon vocational success. Rather, they serve as measures of 
the two sets of activities, curricular and non-curricular, as selective 
agents in identifying the qualities which operate in later life to produce 
vocational success. Until we can measure the initial traits and abili- 
ties which a student possesses when he enters college we have no cer- 
tain means of measuring the degree to which either college studies or 
extra-curricular activities have contributed to the final product. 

4. Scholarship seems to be a selective factor with reference to voca- 
tion to a considerably greater degree than with reference to success in 
a specific vocation. This fact should be given due weight in any meas- 
urement, or in the interpretation of any measurement of the relation 
between scholarship and later success. 

5. The college plays a very small part in the vocational decisions of 
its graduates. The majority (at least two-thirds) choose their vocations 
before entering or after leaving college. The reasons for choosing and 
other evidence seem to justify the inference that the college has played 
little or no part in the decisions of many of the one-third who decided 
during their college course. Both the large number who have decided 
on vocations before entering college and those who have made no de- 
cisions before entrance, offer the college a large unutilized opportunity 
and a grave responsibility for service to student and to society. 

6. There is a large amount of change in occupation, a part of which 
at least is probably indicative of waste both to the individual and to 
society. The change here measured takes no account of the normal 



80 College Achievement and Vocational Efficiency 

shifts within a large field of work such as business, which really com- 
prehends a great diversity of occupations. Some of this occupational 
experimentation is doubtless of ultimate service to the individual and 
some of it is not. In this study it was not possible to isolate and meas- 
ure change as a conditioning factor in vocational success. Such meas- 
urement is desirable in determining just how costly is the laissez (aire 
policy which we pursue with reference to the choice of life careers. 
In any case the frequency of change, barring that which is accounted 
for by entrance upon the occupation of earlier choice, measures one, 
though not the only serious effect of this policy. 

7. The liberal arts college sends more of its male graduates into 
business than into any other single occupational field. These business 
men as a group stand lower scholastically than their fellows who enter 
other fields of work. This seems to indicate that the college curriculum 
is ill-adapted to their abilities, or interests, or both. Either adjust- 
ments should be made in the college course to meet the needs of these 
men, or they should be advised to enter institutions which are better 
adapted to their interests and abilities. 

8. One of the outstanding results of this investigation is the emphasis 
it throws upon variations among different occupations in practically 
all the factors studied, whether these factors are components of the 
scholastic or of the graduate careers of the subjects. The occupational 
variations as to (a) rank as initial and final occupations, (b) reasons 
for entering initial occupation, (c) time of choosing, (d) change and 
reasons for change, (e) income distribution, (/") scholarship distribution, 
(g) cooperation in research work, (h) self-support as a student, (i) 
amount of graduate study, (j) time between graduation and marriage, 
are summarized below. The data are presented for men only because 
of the small numbers of women in occupations other than teaching. 

TEACHING 

Teaching holds first place as an initial occupation for the group 
studied. As a vocation twelve to thirteen years after graduation it 
holds second place. 

As to the time of decision, about 36 per cent chose their work during 
their college course. This is about the same proportion as for medicine 
and engineering and considerably larger than for law or business. That 
one-fifth decided after graduation is also worthy of note. 

As to reasons for entering teaching as an initial occupation, 59 per 



Summary and Conclusions 81 

cent assigned "choice"; 26 per cent "best thing that offered" or "ex- 
perimenting, having made no choice"; and 15 per cent "chance to 
earn for further study." 

As a transient occupation it ranks far above any other calling excepti 
business. As to its rank as compared with business in this matter ' 
of change, there is some doubt. For one group studied, much the 
larger one, teaching has by far the highest percentage of change. For 
the second group, including only men who replied to the questionnaire, 
business has a slightly larger percentage of change, but the replies 
represent a smaller proportion of the whole number engaged in that 
occupation than is true in the case of teachers. Teaching not only 
loses a high percentage of its initial entrants but its gains from other 
fields of work are relatively small, though the magnitude of the results 
on this point also differs for the two groups studied. 

The reasons assigned for change from teaching to other occupations 
are distributed fairly evenly among, (1) better salary, (2) vocation of 
earlier choice, (3) more congenial occupation, (4) occupation better 
adapted to abilities. 

Comparison of income distributions places teaching lower than any 
of the other vocations except the ministry, whether we consider the 
median alone, or the median and the range of the middle 50 per cent. 

As to scholarship rank, just the opposite holds true. The median 
rank for teaching is higher than for any other occupation, and the 
same comparative results are found when the percentage included in 
successive halves, fourths and fifths of the class are considered. 
These facts are corroborated by figures from other sources and give 
teaching easily the highest place as a scholarly profession. It also takes 
first place as to interest in investigation, or at least interest in this 
investigation since more than 76 per cent of the teachers returned 
replies to the occupational questionnaire. 

Eighty-two per cent of these men were wholly or partially self-sup- 
porting as students — a larger proportion than for any other vocation 
except the ministry. The median amount of professional study after 
graduation was approximately Ij years; 15 per cent had no special 
preparation beyond college. The median number of years between 
graduation and marriage is four, one year more than for the ministry 
and from one to three less than for the other occupational groups. 

BUSINESS 

Business ranks second as an initial occupation. As a final occupa- 
tion it ranks first, claiming nearly 32 per cent of the class of 1903 in 



82 College Achievement and Vocational Efficiency 

the cooperating colleges. This is almost twice as large a percentage 
as for teaching which ranks next. 

As to time of choosing, 48 per cent report decisions after gradua- 
tion — more than twice as large a proportion as for any other occupa- 
tion; 23 per cent decided before entering college; and 29 per 
cent during college. Extra-curricular activities and summer work 
are occasionally mentioned in incidental comments as factors in the 
decisions. 

The most frequent reason assigned for entering business as an initial 
occupation is "best thing that offered," which represents 57 per cent 
of the reasons assigned. Add to this the 12 per cent for "experiment- 
ing, no choice," and we have 69 per cent who were drifting. Eleven 
per cent entered as a chance to earn for further study. Only 18 per 
cent of the reasons assigned were "choice." 

In the light of these facts we are prepared to find that in frequency 
of change business vies with, or may even surpass, teaching as a tran- 
sient occupation. In drawing power as a final occupation, however, 
it stands second, being surpassed only by law. 

The chief reasons assigned for leaving business for other occupations 
are "more congenial occupation" and "vocation of earlier choice." 
The chief reasons assigned for entering business from other occupations 
are "better salary" and "more congenial occupation." 

The income distribution shows the median for business slightly 
lower than that for law and almost the same as that for medicine. 
Its mid-fifty per cent range, however, is somewhat better than that for 
law and very slightly poorer than that for medicine. Its lower range 
reaches as far down as that of any occupation, but its topmost range is 
far higher than that of any other occupation — $5000 higher than the 
next highest level. In the interval — $10,000 and above — fall 12 per cent 
of the business men, 6 per cent of the lawyers, 3 per cent of the doctors, 
and Ij per cent of the teachers. 

As to scholarship rank, the business men as a group stand lowest, 
with the exception of the ministry which is represented by too few cases 
to serve as a reliable basis for comparison. This result is corroborated 
by data drawn from other sources. 

Only 46.4 per cent replied to the occupational questionnaire — the 
smallest proportion for any occupational group. Something less than 
one-half were self-supporting in college. Beyond experience and home 
reading, 76 per cent report no special preparation after graduation 
from college. The median number of years between graduation and 
marriage is five. 



Summary and Conclusions 83 

Law ranks third both as an initial and as a final occupation. For 
some colleges it ranks second as a final occupation, displacing teaching. 

Sixty-five per cent of the lawyers chose their occupation before 
entering college and only 12 per cent chose after graduation. As to 
reasons for entering law as an initial occupation "choice" was assigned 
in 93 per cent of the cases and "best thing that offered" in 7 per cent. 
Most of the men who began in this field remained. In both groups 
studied, the percentage of change was low — 3.2 for the larger group and 
7.1 for the smaller. In percentage recruited from other occupations 
it stands first. 

"Better salary" was the reason assigned for change by those who 
left law. The chief reasons assigned for entering law by those who had 
different initial occupations were better income and vocation of earlier 
choice. 

From an economic point of view law for college men ranks high. 
Its median income is higher than that of any other group, but business 
and medicine are somewhat better in terms of the range of the mid- 
fifty per cent. The upper range for business is decidedly higher than 
that for law. 

Its scholastic position is also good. Considering all available data 
it would probably rank third scholastically, being outranked by teach- 
ing and perhaps engineering. Legal caution may account for the rela- 
tively low percentage (54.7) who replied to the occupational question- 
naire. 

As a group lawyers seem to have been relatively free from economic 
pressure as students. In common with business less than half of those 
reporting were wholly or partially self-supporting, and this in spite 
of the fact that after graduation they took in the main three years of 
professional training. This relatively large amount of professional 
training after graduation probably accounts for the median of seven 
years between graduation and marriage. 

medicine; 

Medicine ranks fourth both as an initial and as a final occupation. 
About 60 per cent chose before entering college and about 40 per cent 
during their college course. "Choice" is the reason uniformly ascribed 
for entering the profession, and little change is reported. This might 
be expected in the light of the long preparation beyond college grad- 
uation which these men undergo. The median number of years of 
special preparation is five. As might be expected the median num- 
ber of years beyond college graduation and marriage is also high (6) 



84 College Achievement and Vocational Eiflciency 

for those who were married at the end of twelve and one-half years. 
About 30 per cent w^ere not married at the end of this period. 

Considering median and range of middle fifty per cent the financial 
position of the doctors is relatively favorable. The extremes, how- 
ever, place the profession as low financially as any occupation without 
carrying it as high within the twelve and one-half year period, as law 
or business. 

Scholastically the doctors hold an intermediate position, being lower 
than teaching, law or engineering, but higher than business. A little 
over 59 per cent replied to the occupational questionnaire. 

ENGINEERING 

Engineering ranks slightly lower than the ministry in some colleges 
and slightly higher in others, both as an initial and as a final occupation. 
Forty-four per cent^ chose this field before college entrance, 20 per 
cent after graduation, and 36 per cent during their college course. 
"Choice" is assigned as the reason for entering in 74 per cent of the 
cases and "best thing that offered" in the remainder. Engineering 
has a relatively small percentage of change and also a low percentage 
of gain from other fields. 

Its income position is slightly better than that of teaching, but 
much poorer than that of medicine, law or business. Its scholastic 
position is second only to that of teaching. These men report a much 
smaller amount of special preparation beyond graduation than might 
be expected, being little better in this respect than business. About 
half report no special preparation beyond experience. The median 
number of years between graduation and marriage is five. These 
statistical facts are somewhat unreliable because of the small number 
of cases upon which they are based. Sixty-five per cent of the 
engineers sent in the occupational data requested. 

THE MINISTRY 

The ministry has declined from its original dominant position as 
an occupation for college graduates to fifth place for the country as 
a whole. The percentages as to choice, change, etc., are not very 
reliable because of the very small number of cases upon which they are 
based. So far as they show anything they indicate that the ministry 
is entered preponderantly from choice, determined in a large measure 
before entering college, that it suffers a relatively small amount of 

^Burritt places it lower for the country as a whole, giving it sixth place, 
though it is slowly increasing while the ministry has been steadily decreasing. 
{Professional Distribution of College Graduates, p. 78.) 



Summary and Conclusions 85 

change, and recruits relatively few men from other fields. Its finan- 
cial attraction is relatively small. As to scholastic distribution this 
group stands low, but other available data are conflicting upon 
this point. It stands with law as to median number of years of study 
after graduation (three) . The median number of years between gradua- 
tion and marriage is three, less than for any other occupational group. 
About 62 per cent replied to the questionnaire. 

9. The occupational distribution for women is not nearly so wide 
as that for men. Of the 37 per cent of the class of 1903 engaged in 
paid occupations at the end of twelve and one-half years, about seven- 
tenths were teachers. Considering the great variety in natural endow- 
ment it is questionable whether there is such a preponderant proportion 
of this group of women who are better equipped by nature for teaching 
than for any other field of work. 

The largest single occupational group for women is constituted by 
those who are listed as "homemakers." About 50 per cent of the 
women in the classes studied are included in this group. No criteria 
for measuring success in this composite vocation are available. The 
college has recognized in practice, if not in theory, the need for some 
vocational preparation for teachers. Should it not also consider its 
responsibility with reference to the 50 per cent who will assume the voca- 
tions of child rearing, household administration, feeding and clothing a 
family, etc., with, in the main, no scientific preparation for a life career 
whose success is peculiarly bound up with both individual happiness 
and social well-being? 

The initial occupation of the 50 per cent who later marry is also a 
matter of concern to the college. About two thirds of this group 
engage in gainful occupation for anywhere from one year to twelve 
years with a median of from five to seven years before marriage. The 
occupational distribution of the women included in this investigation 
is, however, of little practical service to college administrators because 
of the unprecedented expansion of the vocational field for women due 
to the War. ' 

The 15 per cent neither married nor engaged in gainful occupations 
represent an unanalyzed group. Doubtless many of them are also 
engaged in some of the homemaking duties which claim the married 
group. We should discover, however, what their activities are if we 
are to know how the college has succeeded in serving and how it may 
better serv e all of its graduates. 

^ Bulletin of the Association of American Colleges, IV, No. 4, p. 11. 



86 College Achievement and Vocational Efficiency 

The very complex problem created by the temporary nature of the 
initial occupation for about one half of the college women graduates, 
by the composite nature of the final occupation of this 50 per cent, 
by the tact that some of them continue to earn after marriage, by 
the fact that many of those who do not marry are limited in their 
vocational possibilities by home demands — all of these conditions make 
the responsibility of the college for vocational direction of its women 
students especially binding. 



CHAPTER VIII 

SOME PROBLEMS OF COLLEGE EDUCATION 
SUGGESTED BY THIS STUDY 

The discussion offered in this chapter is presented, not as conclusions 
of this investigation, but as the author's opinions of certain desirable 
adjustments in the college field. It is her belief that this study offers 
some support to the conviction which is shared by many friends of high- 
er education that some readjustments are urgently needed if the college 
is to give to American life and American youth its highest potential 
service. 

That the college student has little respect for scholarship is generally 
acknowledged both within and without college halls. The result of 
this low estimate of scholarship tmdoubtedly registered as one factor 
in reducing the correlations between scholarship and income reported 
in this investigation. Until the students can be convinced that the 
work of the classroom is worthwhile for them, apart from the marks 
attained, this condition of affairs is unlikely to be changed no matter 
what method we adopt to exalt scholarship itself. In his report for 
1914^ President Mickeljohn of Amherst, after pointing out the fact 
that in Amherst and other colleges from forty to fifty per cent of the stu- 
dents who enter leave without graduating, expresses his belief that the 
fundamental reason for this state of affairs is that "many of our students 
are not sufficiently convinced of the value of the college studies to work 
at them seriously while they are with us, or to remain with us when ob- 
stacles arise or counter attractions appear . . . Some way must be 
found to convince a Freshman that these four years of college life are 
burning with such opportunities as he never again will have, and to keep 
that conviction strong within him until we have done our work upon him. 
How can that conviction be established and maintained ? I presume 
it will be said that, as in the case of other beliefs, the best way to ensure 
its acceptance is to make it true." 

To the writer it seems evident that to make this conviction true will 
require changes both in the curriculum of the college and in the methods 
of instruction employed. Just what these changes should be, however, 
must be determined in the light of (1) a clear definition of the goal of the 
American college, conceived in both individual and social terms, and (2) 

^ President's Report, Amherst, 1914. 

87 



88 College Achievement and Vocational Efficiency 

the facts of modern educational psychology, taking full account of the 
motives which control human behavior and of the laws which govern 
the modification of such behavior whether original or acquired. 

The aim of the college is usually defined as "culture" or "liberal ed- 
ucation." All too often these terms carry with them an academic aloof- 
ness from the practical affairs of life. It is claimed that the college 
should "fit men to live, not to make a living," and anything which might 
have vocational applicability is looked upon askance as likely to inter- 
fere with and degrade the high purpose of preparing men to live. Yet 
withal there has been little agreement as to just what constitutes a lib- 
eral education when we pass to the discussion of its details. With re- 
spect to this lack of unanimity of aim, Charles Francis Adams said in a 
Phi Beta Kappa address at Columbia University in 1906, "The authori- 
ties are as wide apart now as ever they were. There is no agreement; 
no united effort to a given end." President Schurman of Cornell, in 
his report for 1906-07, wrote, "The College is without clear cut notions 
of what a liberal education is and how it is to be secured . . . and the 
pity of it is that this is not a local or special inability but a paralysis 
affecting every college of arts in America." ^ 

To the writer a liberal education connotes an education which liber- 
ates the energies of the individual for the fullest, richest and most 
effective functioning in every aspect of living: in his use of leisure; in 
his relationships as a member of a family and of the body politic; in his 
occupation, through which he both earns his living and makes his contri- 
bution toward the satisfaction of human wants. This interpretation of 
a liberal education implies, of course, a repudiation of that attitude 
toward human activities which conceives of work and culture as oppo- 
site poles in life — work connoting the practical, the material, the sordid; 
culture being held synonymous with the refined, the uplifting, the 
spiritual. The conception of culture here adopted sees the habits, 
attitudes and knowledge which constitute culture as growing out of and 
reacting upon every phase of life. It does not separate a man's culture 
from his activities as a member of a family, as a member of the body 
politic, or as a producer of goods. His culture illuminates, gives mean- 
ing and significance to his life, to his work. Vocation is conceived not 
merely as a necessary means of winning for oneself and dependents the 
necessities and embellishments of life but as an activity instinct with 
social values through which the individual may continue his g rowth and 
realize his promise. ^ 

^ Quoted by Flexner in The American College, The Century Company, 1908. 

2 For a discussion of these concepts see Dewey, Democracy and Education, 
especially Chap. XXIII. 



Problems Suggested by this Study 89 

If this conception of culture and work is adopted, the college which 
aims to fit its students for effective functioning in the varied relations of 
life must accept responsibility for making a contribution to the vocation- 
al as well as to every other phase of life. Indeed, since vocation occupies 
so central a place in the lives of most individuals, one of the surest ways 
of fixing permanently those attitudes, ideas and habits which consti- 
tute culture, is to associate them with and bind them to vocation while 
they are being acquired. Tie up a man's philosophy, his psychology, his 
sociology, his history, his religion, his economics, his ethics and his 
politics to work which is bound to be a part of his life, and we are assured 
at least of many occasions for recall, a condition essential to their retention 
as possible shaping influences in the absorbing life beyond the college walls. 
But let these subjects be acquired as something apart from and supe- 
rior to the practical affairs of life and they will be put aside with the cap 
and gown, neatly laid away, as it were, in a dust and mothproof box, 
safe from the contaminating influences of the utilitarian world. 

From the standpoint of acquisition as well as from that of retention 
there is a distinct advantage to gain through making vocation one of the 
organizing centers of college studies. The acquisition and modifica- 
tion of habits, ideas, attitudes and skills which constitute education, 
proceed most effectively when energy is released and effort induced in 
response to urges or drives from within. For the youth of college age 
the vocational motive constitutes such a drive which it is highly waste- 
ful to ignore even if guidance with reference to vocation itself were not 
the goal. 

The belief that the vocational aspect of life should be given a definite 
and important place among the objectives of the liberal arts college does 
not imply necessarily that the college is responsible for the development 
of specialized vocational knowledge and skills. Such training is the 
specific function of the technical and professional schools. This belief 
does imply, however, that the college has a large responsibility for lead- 
ing the student to realize the important part that vocation will play in 
his life, for helping him to choose his vocation wisely, for bringing him 
to appreciate the necessity of a broad, yet none the less specifically 
determined foundation for this work and perhaps for specialized training 
after graduation. Finally, since the college has a social as well as an 
individual goal, it is responsible for helping the student to see the social 
significance of the various fields of work and the social responsibility 
which each entails upon the men and women who choose it. 

This social goal of the college is bound up, indeed, with its individual 
goal. Through neglect of the former it must inevitably fall short of 



90 College Achievement and Vocational Efficiency 

the latter. The institution may send forth its graduates equipped 
with noble ideals and purposes, but the functioning of these purposes, 
the opportunity to live nobly and fully will be largely conditioned by 
the social environment which provides or withholds the stimuli for those 
responses toward which the college has bent its highest effort. If the 
growth and development which the college has striven to foster in the 
undergraduate are to continue along the same basic lines after graduation, 
if the old ideals and purposes are not to be abandoned as unworkable 
and unproductive, the social environment must become more truly 
adjusted to human needs and human aspirations. If the college is to be 
a dynamic force in reorganizing this social milieu which conditions the 
final effectiveness of its product, it must send forth men and women who 
carry into their work not merely the technical skill which the professional 
schools may supply as an aid to personal advancement, but a realiza- 
tion of the critical social problems of the time which are so largely 
economic in their origin, an appreciation of the relation which the work 
of each bears to these problems, and a desire to really do something 
toward their solution. 

The tragedy of the age is the dearth of enlightened, effective leader- 
ship in the hour of the world's greatest need and richest opportunity. 
The need is for men and women who have not only a social purpose, a 
social vision and the personal qualities which make men willing to 
follow their leadership. These qualifications are essential. But to 
make such leadership issue in productive social change instead of being 
dissipated in will o' the wisp strivings for phantom Utopias, it must be 
enlightened by knowledge of social origins, social changes, the original 
nature of man and the laws by which original nature may be effectively 
modified. In no field more than in business is such enlightened leader- 
ship needed, for the crux of the social unrest lies in the maladjustment 
of capital and labor. The American college sends to-day 30 per cent 
of its male graduates into business. To train leaders has always been a 
prominent aim of the liberal arts college. To realize the type of leader- 
ship demanded by the present and the immediate future, is the first 
requisite for meeting this responsibility. But if the college is to make 
such training effective, it must abandon its faith in formal discipline, 
and educate the college youth specifically for the kind of social func- 
tioning it expects of him. 

The vocational phase of the writer's interpretation of a liberal educa- 
tion has been stressed here, not because it is the singly important aspect 
of the graduate's life, but because it has been so largely ignored or re- 
pudiated in the past. The writer is convinced that for the student 



Problems Suggested by this Study 91 

vocation is a highly effective motive and a vital organizing centre for 
study, and that for the graduate it constitutes one, perhaps the most 
important organizing center of his life, with intimate interrelations with 
practically all other phases of his activity. At the same time his attitude 
toward vocation, and his effective, enlightened functioning in vocation is 
of basal significance to social welfare. 

A growing appreciation of the necessity for com-ses more clearly rela- 
ted to the life needs of students, is evidenced by the introduction of 
courses in contemporary social problems which a number of colleges are 
now offering for Freshmen. Columbia prescribes such a course, called 
Introduction to Contemporary Civilization, which is a direct descendant 
of the War Issues Course of the S.A.T.C. Dartmouth^ gives a 
course called Problems of Citizenship, prescribed for Freshmen. The 
college announcement says, "The purpose of this course is to open the 
minds of men at a very early stage of their college course to intelligent 
consideration of the great problems of life which lie about them and 
with which they must be prepared to cope, as individuals, as members 
of society, as citizens of the United States of America." President 
Meiklejohn of Amherst announced in his report for 1914 a course on 
Social and Economic Institutions as a new elective for freshmen. 

There are hopeful signs that the need for better teaching in the college 
is being increasingly appreciated. In addition to numerous articles in 
educational and semi- popular magazines voicing this need, a book deal- 
ing with teaching methods in college has recently appeared;^ Yale 
College has appointed a Dean of Freshmen to administer the new plan 
of a joint freshman year, which plan carries with it a chance for promo- 
tion to men who have the "instinct for classroom teaching";^ and 
most interesting of all, the Faculty of the School of Agriculture of Penn- 
sylvania State College recently undertook a serious study of methods of 
teaching under the instruction of Professor Kilpatrick, of Teachers Col- 
lege, Columbia University. 

A tendency to assume some respoUvSibility for vocational guidance has 
been developing rapidly in the last five years, more extensively in the 
women's colleges than in the men's colleges. These guidance activities 
have frequently had their beginnings in placement or appointment 
committees, which have gradually extended their function to include 
the providing of vocational information and often more or less thorough 
individual diagnostic work. Sometimes, however, the initiative has 

^ Dartmouth College Catalogue, 1920-21, p. 64. 

2 Klapper: College Teaching. 

3 President's Report, Yale University, 1920. 



92 College Achievement and Vocational Efficiency 

been taken by the dean, student advisers or other interested members of 
the faculty. These attempts to help students to find themselves voca- 
tionally have usually got under way vv^ith no attempt to square the 
developing practice with existing theory as to the purpose of the 
liberal arts college. 

The proportions that vocational activities are assuming in the colleges 
was emphasized by the conference in New York on February 23 and 24, 
1921, of the deans of women and secretaries of appointment committees 
in colleges having women students, who met to exchange experiences 
and ideas on the subject. Fifty-six men and women representing 
forty-four colleges and vocational bureaus were present. Barnard and 
Smith reported appointment bureaus operated separately from the 
dean's office, which furnished vocational information and advice in ad- 
dition to carrying on the work of placement. ^ Smith has also a 
system of vocational talks to sophomores and seniors and an annual 
vocational conference. Vassar reported an occupational bureau under 
the department of wardens (heads of halls), a faculty vocational com- 
mittee with one member from each department to whom students 
might be sent for advice; preparation by this committee and the voca- 
tional bureau of a vocational bulletin; an alumnae committee on social 
work which will gather information as to opportunities in this field from 
groups of alumnae all over the country; plans for the formation of simi- 
lar committees for other fields of work; vocational conferences; articles 
in the college paper; provision of books on vocations, and a personnel 
research bureau under the direction of the department of psychology. 
Holyoke, Northwestern, Pennsylvania State, Ohio State and the Wo- 
men's College of Delaware reported the work carried on through the 
dean's office. Holyoke and Wellesley have as a visiting adviser, Miss 
Jackson of the Women's Educational and Industrial Union of Boston. 
Her work is the giving of information rather than advice. She has 
weekly or bi-weekly conferences at Wellesley and monthly meetings at 
Holyoke. Goucher has a resident vocational adviser who is also as- 
sociate professor of economics and sociology. 

Pennsylvania State College has a student vocational committee which 
is valuable in arousing interest. They study books and pamphlets 
under the guidance of the dean, take the census of vocational interests, 
answer questions of students and take charge of bulletin boards. Mills 
College reported a course on vocational opportunities. Miss Hirth, of 

^ It is interesting to note that both of these colleges have recently reported 
a very decided swing away from teaching and toward other types of work on the 
part of their graduates. 



Problems Suggested by the Study 93 

the Bureau of Vocational Information, reported that a movement had 
been inaugurated for a system of occupational bureaus for men with a 
clearing house in New York for the colleges in that section of the 
country. 

Leland Stanford Junior University has a very active faculty commit- 
tee on vocational guidance. Each member of the committee is assigned 
a group of vocations, for knowledge of which he is made responsible. 
This committee supplements the work of the departments and provides 
especially for students who have not selected a vocation. It issued in 
June, 1919, a very helpful bulletin of vocational information dealing 
with seventeen major fields of work, with suggestions in regard to each 
as to the nature of the work, personal qualifications demanded, finan- 
cial considerations and other rewards, opportunities for promotion, 
entering the profession, cost of training, most helpful courses, etc. ^ 

Dartmouth just a year ago established the office of associate dean 
with the purpose of eliminating, or at least reducing materially, the post- 
graduate period of business floundering which many college graduates 
must undergo before they settle down to their life work. " 

Brown University has a committee on educational advice and direc- 
tion. ^ This committee will make careful study of individual students 
as a basis for educational and vocational guidance. The head of the 
psychology department is its chairman. 

At Cornell, " the university adviser for women has for a number of 
years been carrying on rather extensive work in vocational guidance, 
including personal conference, courses by non-resident lecturers, books 
on vocations, and cooperating alumni clubs. 

Alfred College has a vocational committee of the faculty under the 
auspices of the Twentieth Century Alumni of the College, one member 
of which is usually the head of the department of education. Personal 
advice, lectures by alumni and other outside speakers, vocational chats 
in the college paper, and books are the chief modes of guidance. 

If these changes and others which are taking place in the college are 
to be rationally evaluated and developed along intelligent lines, they 
should be unified and related within a well thought out college policy 
based upon clearly envisaged goals. Such terms as "liberal education," 
"general culture," are too vague to serve as the basis for scientific deter- 
mination of policies, selection of subject matter, or evaluation of method. 

1 Vocational Information Bulletin, No. 22, June 1919, Leland Stanford Junior 
University, California. 

2 "VocationalGuidanceat Dartmouth College," School and Society, h^ril 3, 1920. 
' Report of President of Brown University, 1919. 

^ Report of President of Cornell University, 1910. 



94 College Achievement and Vocational Efficiency 

They must be replaced by specific objectives in terms of habits: mental, 
emotional, and physical; attitudes; ideals and appreciations; knowl- 
edge, both for understanding and control; skills; psychological pro- 
ducts to be established in the nervous systems of individuals, each by 
the application of appropriate psychological methods. 

Just what these specific goals ought to be in order to contribute in 
greatest measure to individual and social well being can only be deter- 
mined in the light of facts. These basal facts are to be found first in an 
analysis of social needs, and second, in an analysis of the activities of 
college graduates in their everyday life. One very large group of such 
activities centres in vocation, which indeed is so intimately related to 
those centering in family life, civic functioning and recreation that it 
may, in fact, be considered a conditioning factor in most of the others. 

The survey which formed the basis of this study could not, in the 
nature of the case, be comprehensive enough to furnish sufficiently exact 
data to serve as a guide in determining college objectives as they relate 
to the vocations of college graduates. It suggests, however, some of 
the possibilities of such a survey which might well be undertaken on a 
larger scale by the cooperative efforts of the colleges themselves. 

Assuming, in the light of practices already developing, that the college 
will eventually assume conscious responsibility for some vocational 
direction of its students, what administrative provisions can be sug- 
gested which may most effectively aid the student in finding himself 
vocationally? The writer believes that an orienting course for fresh- 
men, which will have as its prime object the arousal of definite life pur- 
poses, not merely with reference to vocation but with reference to other 
aspects of life as well, might profitably be the initial college approach. 
Vocation, through such a course, would be interpreted to the student 
in terms of its social significance and in its intimate interrelations with 
other activities which will constitute his life, rather than as an isolated 
process having only to do with earning a living. So interpreted, the 
student will be better able to appreciate the motives other than financial 
which should enter into his choice of a life work. He should realize 
that "To find out what one is fitted to do and to secure an opportunity 
to do it is the key to happiness. Nothing is more tragic than failure to 
discover one's true business in life or to find that one has drifted or been 
forced by circumstances into an uncongenial calling. A right occupation 
means that the aptitudes of a person are in adequate play, working with 
the maximum of satisfaction."^ Both from the standpoint of indi- 
vidual happiness and of effective social functioning the college may 

^Dewey, Democracy and Education, page 360. 



Problems Suggested by This Study 95 

worthily aim to develop something of the attitude toward vocation 
which is conveyed by Van Dyke's poem "Work." 

Let me but do my work from day to day, 

In field or forest, at the desk or loom. 

In roaring market-place or tranquil room; 

Let me but find it in my heart to say, 

When vagrant wishes beckon me astray, 

"This is my work; my blessing, not my doom; 

Of all who live, I am the one by whom 

This work can best be done in the right way." 

Then shall I see it not too great, nor small. 

To suit my spirit and to prove my powers; 

Then shall I cheerful greet the labouring hours. 

And cheerful turn, when the long shadows fall 

At eventide, to play and love and rest. 

Because I know for me my work is best. 

The approach, then, to vocational guidance would be through educa- 
tional guidance. This orienting course would naturally carry with its 
arousal of purposes, direction as to means of carrying them to fulfill- 
ment by helping the student to appreciate the contributions of the 
different studies of the curriculum as well as the potential training 
value of the non-academic activities of the college. If the student's 
purposes and the purposes of the college could be brought into harmony, 
the energy necessary for effective work would be released. But it is 
essential that the student see the relation of college requirements to 
ends which he holds valuable. Vocation will be one of these ends but 
by no means the only one. 

In helping the student to appreciate the relation of the various studies 
to his life purposes, the cooperation of the different departments 
should be enlisted. Through short units, perhaps, they may give the 
student some understanding of the contributions made by each field of 
study not as a "discipline" but as a means of understanding, enjoying, 
controlling activity and environment. This relating must, to be effect- 
ive, necessarily be in terms of the student's experience and ability to see 
the relationships in question. One phase might well be a suggestion of 
the different fields of work into which a given study or group of studies 
may lead, or for which it forms a valuable background, or even a foimda- 
tion stone. 

Such a course would, needless to say, require vital teaching in the col- 
lege courses which followed it. To whet a student's appetite and then 
send him away disappointed and disillusioned would be serious. 
But it may well be that if students were made conscious of what they 
had a right to expect, and really demanded satisfaction of felt needs in- 
stead of passively accepting as much of what is handed to them as is 



96 College Achievement and Vocational Efficiency 

necessary to make a gentleman's grade, we should have a surer guaran- 
tee of more vital college teaching than even the much needed supervision 
of college teaching could secure. 

So far as the vocational aspect of this course is concerned it should 
lead to a student demand for two things. First, it should create a de- 
mand for help in personal analysis to discover aptitudes, strength and 
weakness, to serve as a guide in choosing and eliminating certain fields 
of work, and also as a guide for personal, self-directed efifort toward 
improvement along needed lines, using the facilities which the college 
provides through its general life, its curriculum, and its faculty. 

The second demand created should be for specific, accurate and de- 
tailed information in regard to vocations suitable for college graduates. 
This information should include the remuneration which these fields of- 
fer, not only initially but their ultimate possibilities, the rate at which 
one may expect advancement, the returns other than financial, oppor- 
tunity for service, leisure, study, etc., the amount and kind of further 
preparation necessary, where this preparation may be secured and its 
approximate cost, the qualities essential to success, including the general 
intelligence level of the men in any field with whom an individual would 
have to compete, the college courses which would be directly helpful 
vocationally, serviceable as preparatory or as background courses for 
the specialized training to follow. 

The diagnostic work should be carried forward as scientifically as 
present knowledge will permit. Something in the nature of a person- 
nel bureau such as Vassar is developing would serve not merely to bring 
together data from all available sources as to the students' traits: mental, 
physical and social, but would constitute the occasion for devising 
better methods of rating on qualities other than the purely scholarly, 
and stimulate the attempt to develop vocational tests applicable to 
college graduates. The only such test which we now have is the intelli- 
gence test. Intelligence tests should be given to college students and 
follow-up records should be kept to show the degree to which the scores 
achieved correlate with success in various callings. Such a bureau would 
constitute the research or student survey department of the college, 
serving it in many other ways beside that of diagnosis in connection 
with vocational guidance. 

The informational phase of the work may well be carried on in a vari- 
ety of ways. A course of lectures and conferences given by members of 
the faculty and successful men and women in the various fields, books, 
and where possible some actual trying out of tentative choices during 
the summer vacation would be helpful. Whether the work was under 



Problems Suggested by This Study 97 

the direction of the dean, a faculty committee, or a resident adviser 
would depend somewhat upon the facihties of the college. Some one 
person, a very well trained person, would be directly responsible for the 
direction and coordination of the work, but he should have the assistance 
of a great many people, each responsible in detail for some part small 
enough to enable him to know and keep up to date with reference to it. 
In particular each teacher should be expected to know intimately the 
chief fields of productive work into which his subjects lead. This type 
of responsibility would be one of the best stimuli to the kind of contacts 
which will keep the teacher alive and growing. 

In conclusion, the writer believes that if the American college is to 
fulfill its high calling of preparing men and women to live, it must recog- 
nize the necessity of redefining its objectives in terms of the actual 
needs of society and of its graduates who must live and work in that 
society. It must reorganize its curriculum in the light of these well 
thought out and scientifically determined and analytic aims. It must 
enlist the energies of the student to utilize to the limit of his capacity 
the facilities which it offers, by arousing his purposes and making them 
one with the purposes of the college for him. It must develop through 
investigation the knowledge which he needs to direct his purposes in- 
telligently toward fulfillment. It must recognize and apply the 
principles of modern educational psychology in the teaching through 
which it strives to bring about the knowledge, the habits, the skills, 
the ideals and the appreciations which constitute its goals. 



REFERENCES 

BOOKS 
BiRDSEYE: The Reorganization of Our Colleges. 
Bloomfield: Readings in Vocational Guidance. 
Brewer: The Vocational Guidance Movement. 
Crawford and Others: The American College. 
Dewey: Democracy and Education. 
Eliot: Educational Reform. 
Flexner: The American College — A Criticism. 
Foster: Administration of the College Curriculum. 
Gundelfinger: Ten Years at Yale. 

Hall: Vocational Guidance Through the Library. A. L. A. Publishing Board. 
Hollingworth: Vocational Psychology. 
Hudson: The College and New America. 
Keppel: The Undergraduate and His College. 
KellEy: Educational Guidance. 

King: The Wealth and Income of the People of the United States. 
Klapper: College Teaching. 
KoLBE : The Colleges in War Time and After. 
Ralph and Allen: Record Aids in College Management. 
Snedden: Problems of Educational Readjustment. 
Snedden: Social Determination of Objectives in Education. 
Snow: The College Curriculum in the United States. 

Strayer and Thorndike: Educational Administration. Sec. 16: The Inefficiency 
of College Entrance Examinations. Sec. 17: The Studies Actually Taken 
for the A. B. Degree. 

Streightoff: The Distribution of Incomes in the United States. 

Thwing: College Administration. 

Thwing: The American College. What It Is and What It May Become. 

Who's Who in America: Editions of 1910-11; 1914-15; 1818-19. 

PERIODICAI^S 

Bevier: "College Grades and Success in L-ife." (Educational Review, Nov. 1917) 
Brewer: "The Need for Vocational Guidance in Colleges." {School and Society 
May 1, 1920) 

BiRDSEYE: "The College Curriculum as a Preparationfor Vocation." {Education, 
Jan. 1912) 

Boyd: "Extra-Curricular Activities and Scholarship." {School and Society, ^eh. 

5, 1921) 
Capen: "The Dilemma of the College of Arts and Sciences." {Educational Review, 

April 1921) 
Capen: "The New Task of the American Colleges." {School and Society, Sept. 

4, 1920) 
Cattell: "A Statistical Study of Eminent Men." {Popular Science Monthly, 62 -.359) 
Craythorne: "Change of Mind Between H. S. Entrance and College as to Life 

Work." {School and Society, Jan. 3, 1920) 

Dexter: "High Grade Men; in College and Out." {Popular Science Monthly, 62: 
429) 

98 



References 99 

Foster: "Should Students Study?" {Harper's Magazine, Sept 1916) 
FuRST: "Tests of College Efficiency." {School Review, Vol. XX, No. 5) 
Hadlgy: "Choosing a Career." {Yale Alumni Weekly, Mar. 3, 1916) 
Hutchinson: "Vocational Interests of College Women." {Columbia University 
Quarterly, June 1915) 

Jennings: "Vocational Guidance in College and University." {Educational Re- 
view, April 1916) 

Keppel : "Occupations of College Graduates as Influenced by the College Course. * * 
{Educational Review, Dec. 1910) 

Kitson: "Psychological Tests and Vocational Guidance." {School Review, March 

1916) 
Knapp: "The Man Who Led His Class in College andOthers." {Harvard Graduate 
Magazine, March 1916) 

Kunkel: "Standing of Undergraduates and Alumni." {School and Society, May 
12, 1917) 

Leonard: "Occupations of the Graduates of the College of Liberal Arts — State 
University of Iowa." {Midland Schools, Sept. 1914) 

Lowell: "College Studies and Professional Training." {Educational Review , Oct. 
1911) 

Magruder: "The Junior Colleges as a Relief." {Educational Review, April 1921) 
Mead: "Orientation Course for Freshmen at Brown University." {School and 
Society, March 18, 1916) 

Miner: "A Vocational Census of College Students." {Educational Review, Sept. 
1915) 

MoORE: "Three Types of Psychological Rating in Use With Freshmen at Dart- 
mouth." {School and Society, April 2, 1921) 

Myers: "Present Day College Problems." {Educational Review, April 1921) 

Nicholson: "Standardizing the Marking System." {Educational Review, October 
1917) 

Nicholson: "Success in College and in After Life." {School and Society, Aug. 
14, 1915) 

Payne: "Scholarship and Success in Teaching." {Journal of Educational Psychol- 
ogy, April 1918) 

Paull: "The Relative Standing in College of Graduates Entering Various Pro- 
fessions." {School and Society, May 26, 1917) 

Simpson: "Reliability of Estimates of General Intelligence With Application to 
Appointments to Positions." {Journal of Educational Psychology, 
April 1915) 

Smallwood: "The Fate of the Liberal Arts College in American Universities." 
{School and Society, Aug. 30, 1919) 

Taylor: "The Study of Methods of Teaching by a College Faculty." {School and 
Society, March 6, 1920) 

ThorndikE: "The Permanence of Interests and Their Relation to Abilities." 

{Popular Science Monthly, Nov. 1912) 

ThorndikE: "Educational Diagnosis." {Science, Jan. 24, 1913) 

ThorndikE: "The Selective Influence of the College." {Educational Review, 30: l) 

Van KlEEk: "A Census of College Women." {The Journal of the Association of 
Collegiate Alumnae, Vol. XI No. 9, May 1918) 

Walters: "The Scholastic Training of Eminent American Engineers." {School and 
Society, March 12, 1921) 

Wells: "Systematic Observation of the Personality." {Psychological Review, 
July 1914) 

Witmer: "On the Relation of Intelligence to Efficiency." {Psychological Clinic, 
May 1915) 



100 College Achievement and Vocational Efficiency 

Woods: "The Social Waste of Unguided Personal Ability." (American Journal 
of Sociology, Nov. 1913) 

Editorial; "Vocational Guidance at Dartmouth College." (School and Society, 
April 3, 1920) 

UNITED STATES BUREAU OF EDUCATION BULLETINS 

BuRRiTT: Professional Distribution of College and University Graduates. Bulletin, 
1912, No. 19. 

Capen: Recent Movements in College and University Administration. Bulletin, 
1916, No. 46. 

John: Requirements for the Bachelor's Degree. Bulletin, 1920, No. 7. 

McDowell: The Junior College. Bulletin, 1919, No. 35. 

Ryan: Vocational Guidance in the Public Schools. Bulletin, 1918, No. 24. 

Robinson: The Curriculum of the Woman's College. Bulletin, 1918, No. 6. 

OTHER GOVERNMENT PUBLICATIONS 

War Department, Office of Surgeon General: Army Mental Tests. 
Commission on Classification of Personnel in the Army: Personnel Work in 
the United States Army, Adjutant General's Department. 

COLLEGE PUBLICATIONS 

Brewer and Kelly: A Selected Critical Bibliography of Vocational Guidance. 
Harvard University Bulletin, No. 4, Feb. 1917. 

Committee on Vocational Guidance : Vocational Information. Leland Stanford, Jr., 
University Bulletin, No. 22, 1919. 

Annual Reports of College Presidents, 1914-1920, especially: 



Amherst 


1914 


Brown 


1919 


Columbia 


1918-1920 


Darthmouth 


1920 


Cornell 


1910 


Harvard 


1918-1919 


Yale 


1920 







College Catalogues. 1914-1920. 

Alumni Registers of colleges covered by this study. 



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